The NFL made a significant change to its kickoff in 2024,instituting the "dynamic kickoff"to boost the percentage of returned kicks and make one of the league's most dangerous plays safer.
The league is continuing its efforts to refine the play by tweaking its kickoff rule ahead of the 2026 NFL season.
The most notable approved rule change will allow teams to attempt an onside kick at any point during the game. In 2025, teams were only allowed to try an onside kick when trailing, so the rule change will give clubs a bit more flexibility.
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OT Tytus Howard:
Traded to Cleveland Browns (previous team: Houston Texans)
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CB Trent McDuffie:
Traded to Los Angeles Rams (previous team: Kansas City Chiefs)
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RB David Montgomery:
Traded to Houston Texans (previous team: Detroit Lions)
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WR DJ Moore:
Traded to Buffalo Bills (previous team: Chicago Bears)
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2026 NFL offseason tracker: Player signings, trades
OT Tytus Howard:Traded to Cleveland Browns(previous team: Houston Texans)
Despite this significant change, NFL teams will still have to declare an onside kick any time they attempt one. This is necessitated by the difference of alignment between the onside kick – which uses the NFL's traditional kickoff formation – and the NFL's dynamic kickoff, where a majority of the players from each team are lined up between the receiving team's 30- and 35-yard line.
With that in mind, surprise onside kicks – like the one Sean Payton famously dialed up to start the second half of the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl 44 win over the Indianapolis Colts – will remain out of the sport.
It remains unclear whether the NFL's rule change will result in an uptick in overall onside kick attempts, or if the need to declare them – along with their overall lack of efficacy – will continue to limit their use.
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Just five of the NFL's 52 onside kicks were recovered in 2025, according todata from The Football Database. That was good for a mark of 9.6% and up from three total recoveries and a 6% recovery rate in 2024, the first year of the NFL's dynamic kickoff.
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NFL kickoff rule changes
The onside kick rule isn't the only major kicking change the NFL's competition committee has instituted for the 2026 season. The following two rules have also been approved:
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To eliminate the kicking team’s incentive to intentionally kick the ball out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line.
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To modify the kickoff alignment requirements for the receiving team players in the setup zone.
The first of these rule changes effectively closed a loophole in the 2025 kickoff rules. Last season, a team kicking off from the 50-yard line after a personal foul penalty on the receiving team would benefit more from kicking a ball out of bounds (which would place the ball on the receiving team's 25-yard line) than they would from kicking a touchback (which would place the ball at the 30-yard line).
Under the NFL's new rule, touchbacks on kicks from the 50-yard line will be brought back out to the 20, eliminating the incentive to purposely sail a ball out of bounds.
Meanwhile, the alignment modifications will simply adjust how receiving team players are allowed to line up within the setup zone. The new rule will require just five players, instead of six, to have their front foot on the setup line – though just two players will be allowed to have their foot off the line in each of the setup zone's three areas.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NFL modifies onside kick rules, other kickoff bylaws for 2026
The NFL made a significant change to its kickoff in 2024,instituting the "dynamic kickoff"to boost the percentage of returned...
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