New NFL kickoff rules a work in progress

The NFL’s new kickoff rule is obviously a work in progress.

The Jaguars-Chiefs first preseason game Saturday night showed that teams are still adjusting to some of the nuances of the new rule.

A good example came when Jacksonville kicker Cam Little hit a kickoff that bounced just into the end zone and then bounced forward to the one. Chiefs returned Mecole Hardman grabbed the ball and pulled back in the end zone and took a knee.

The officials ruled a touchback and were putting the ball on the 30 when Jaguars coach Doug Pederson objected and talked to the officials. Jaguars special teams coach Heath Farwell alerted Pederson it was a safety under the new rules.

“My point to the officials is you’ve got to review it at least,” Pederson said. “Give us an opportunity to review it –not me because I couldn’t but let the official review it.”

The crew led by referee Tra Blake held a conference and agreed Pederson was right and ruled a safety.

But the interesting thing is that neither the Chiefs nor the officials knew that it was a safety at first.

“The ball landed in the end zone and now by rule and now by rule is still a live ball,” Pederson said.

Andy Reid is a future Hall of Fame coach who has won three Super Bowls as the Chiefs coach, including the last two, but he wasn’t up to speed on the new rule and obviously the returner wasn’t either.

“We’ll get it cleaned up,” Reid said.

It was a positive that it happened in the preseason so other teams can use it as a teaching tool to make sure their players know the new rule.

The Jaguars also did well in the return department as Parker Washington returned their first kickoff 73 yards to set up a touchdown and Tank Bigsby returned a free kick after the safety 45 yards.

The idea of the new rule is to have more kick returns. But are teams going to risk long returns or just kick it out of the end zone and have the ball placed on the 30?

The averaging starting position for all kicks was the 29 and 28.5 for returned kicks according to PFT. Maybe the starting position should be the 35 to encourage teams not to kick it out of the end zone.

Teams have two more games to experiment as they decide what to do during the regular season. First, they have to learn all the new rules.