CFL unlikely to alter kickoff rules this off-season
Published
One year after the National Football League drastically altered its kickoff rules in an effort to strike a balance between safety and entertainment, it doesn’t appear the Canadian Football League will be following suit.
At least not this off-season.
That’s the sense coming out of the CFL winter meetings in Charlotte, N.C. last week, where possible rule changes were discussed and debated by the league’s rules committee.
A consensus exists that CFL injury data from the past season doesn’t support a need for changing the framework of kickoffs, as injuries are mostly non-contact and soft-tissue in nature and are not being incurred at rates out of line with other areas of the game.
The NFL adopted its new kickoff format last March in response to criticism that too often teams were simply kicking the ball through the end zone, resulting in just 17 per cent being returned. That number jumped to 29 per cent under the NFL’s new format this season, and improved overall drive-starting position.
In the CFL, there are an average of 7.5 kickoffs per game with the vast majority being returned.
The impetus for considering change in the CFL was driven not to improve kickoffs, but purely by concern over safety.
However, given the data presented in Charlotte, there is expected to be no formal proposal to alter kickoffs in a significant way when the league’s rules committee meets again at the CFL Combine in March.
Last off-season, the league gave consideration to a couple possible changes that would have drastically altered kickoffs in the name of player safety. One was to adopt something modeled on the new NFL kickoff, which had previously been used in the now-defunct XFL.
The other was allowing teams after surrendering a touchdown to scrimmage the ball on the 40-yard line instead of an automatic kickoff, which would result in a drastic reduction in kick returns.
The CFL ultimately hit the pause button on the matter last winter and ordered further study, including studying injury data more closely. This past December, the league formed a committee made up of special teams coaches and head coaches with special teams experience to review the issue.
Choosing to remain status quo on kickoffs should be good news for CFL fans who seemed opposed to changing the rules, based on opposition voiced on social media last winter when the consideration was first reported.