San Francisco 49ers Chief Executive Officer Jed York. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

49ers CEO explains why team opposed NFL’s new kickoff format

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 3/26/24

Twenty-nine of the NFL’s 32 team owners voted to pass the league’s proposal to change the kickoff rules to a new hybrid format Tuesday at the NFL’s Annual Meeting.

The San Francisco 49ers, however, weren’t one of them.

The team’s CEO Jed York isn’t opposed to changing the kickoff rules to better incorporate kickoff returns into the game, but he’s not exactly on board with how the league wants to do it currently.

“If there’s injury data or a competitive issue that doesn’t work, then it’s the asterisk season of the kickoff rule that didn’t work,” York said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “I’m 100% for trying to make that play active in our game again. I think they put in a ton of time and a ton of effort to try to make something work. I’m just sure there are going to be tweaks to it, and I’d rather tweak it, if we have to, in the middle of the season, as opposed to ‘Here’s the asterisk season, and we’re going to tweak it at the end of the year.’ That’s it.”

Here’s what the new NFL kickoff will look like this season: pic.twitter.com/vtR5bqGZLK
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 26, 2024

Under the new kickoff rules, the ball will be kicked off from the 35-yard line with the 10 other players on the kicking team lining up at the opposing team’s 40-yard line. The receiving team will have at least seven players lined up between its 30- and 35-yard lines with no more than two returners lined up between their own 20-yard line and end zone.

Once the ball is in the air, the kicker can’t cross midfield and his teammates can’t move until it’s fielded by a returner, it touches the ground or it goes into the end zone. Likewise for the non-returners on the receiving team.

The changes are designed to cut down on the number of injuries while also allowing the number of kicks that get returned to increase.

“From a health and safety standpoint, we’ve tried to address the play because it was the highest injury-rate play that existed,” York added. “So they’re going from that to try to reintroduce the play to the game and make it more of a real play as opposed to a ceremonial play. I’m 100% for that. I just want to make sure with something that’s brand new, that we have the opportunity to address it during the middle of the season.”

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