It's not official, but it sounds like the kickoff will soon be going way the of the dodo. It's remotely possible (although probably not) that we've already seen our last NFL kickoff. There are just too many injuries on the play -- even when there's no return. If you can't keep players from suffering concussions even on kickoffs through the back of the end zone, what's the point?
That's the word in this story at NFL.com. The league has implemented various measures designed to reduce the amount on injuries on kickoffs, like moving them from the 30-yard line to the 35 and increasing the value of touchbacks (by moving them from the 20-yard line to the 25). But it hasn't really worked. So in the not too distant future, be ready for them to be scrapped altogether.
"[What's] kind of frustrating," says Packers president Mark Murphy, a member of the competition committee, "is there were concussions on touchbacks. So even though there's no return, [the committee is] looking at what kind of things you can do to make sure people were aware that there's not even a return. You see this, too: One player lets up, the player covering lets up, and one of the blockers comes over and, you know. That creates problems when you've got one player going half-speed and the other one full speed."
Recently we ran a story on Patriots acquisition Cordarrelle Patterson, who has a chance to break the all-time record for kickoff return touchdowns. He has 5 in his five-year career, just 3 behind all-time leaders Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington. At the time we figured he had a good chance to break that record in the next few seasons. In fact, more likely he'll need to break it in 2018 if he's going to do it at all.
Back in Cribbs' and Washington's heyday (their careers began in 2005 and 2006, respectively), kick return scores tended to average in the teens. Just a decade ago (2007), there were 25 kick return scores. But it's been a steep decline since.
| KICKOFF RETURN TOUCHDOWNS, 2007-2017 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| Arizona | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Atlanta | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Baltimore | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Buffalo | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carolina | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chicago | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cincinnati | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cleveland | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dallas | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Denver | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Detroit | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Green Bay | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Houston | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Indianapolis | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jacksonville | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| LA Chargers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LA Rams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Miami | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| New England | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| New Orleans | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| NY Giants | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| NY Jets | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oakland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Philadelphia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Pittsburgh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| San Francisco | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seattle | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Tampa Bay | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tennessee | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Washington | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL | 25 | 13 | 18 | 23 | 9 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
The article suggests a change won't be implemented for the 2018 season. (Although we'll see; how hard is it to make a change that simply requires officials to place the ball at the 25-yard-line?) But the NFL's few remaining kickoff specialists, and kickoff return specialists, should begin looking for another line of work. They're not going to have jobs for much longer.
--Andy Richardson