Ravens coach John Harbaugh was a special teams coordinator before he was a head coach, so he has spent more time thinking about strategy and tactics in the kicking game than most head coaches. And Harbaugh has joined the growing chorus speaking out against the NFL’s new kickoff touchback rule.
The rule, which puts touchbacks after kickoffs on the 25-yard line instead of the 20-yard line, was intended to reduce the number of kickoff returns by incentivizing the return team to stay in the end zone. But many coaches and players think it will have the opposite effect, incentivizing the kicking team to kick high and short.
“The goal is misappropriated,” Harbaugh told ESPN. “If you’re trying to get the kickoff out of the game, just take it out. I don’t like the whole premise at all, as far fewer returns, which will make the game less exciting. Maybe that’s their goal, to make it be less exciting. If you want to make it safer, I think there are better ways to look at that. We just have to be smart about it.”
Others who have expressed skepticism about the new touchback rule include longtime NFL kicker Jay Feely, all-time great kick returner Devin Hester, Washington coach Jay Gruden and New Orleans coach Sean Payton.
This new rule increasingly looks like it was not well thought out, and that it will not have the effect the league wanted.