Former President Donald Trump has denounced a new rules change as “the beginning of the end” for the National Football League (NFL).
The NFL introduced new “dynamic kickoff” rules for the 2024 season, with the league explaining that the rules change would help “promote more kickoff returns” and reduce “injury rates on kickoffs.”
Trump, who has a long history of lashing out at the league and some of its players over Black Lives Matter protests—and also spearheaded a 1986 lawsuit against the NFL as a team owner in the long-defunct rival United States Football League—had a different take on the new rules in a post to Truth Social on Friday.
“I can’t believe the NFL is effectively getting rid of the always exciting Kick Off Return,” Trump wrote. “Such an exciting part of Football. What are they doing? BEGINNING OF THE END!”
Former President Donald Trump is pictured during an event in Las Vegas on August 23. Trump claimed on Friday that new NFL rules that have more than tripled kickoff return rates during the preseason were…
Former President Donald Trump is pictured during an event in Las Vegas on August 23. Trump claimed on Friday that new NFL rules that have more than tripled kickoff return rates during the preseason were “effectively getting rid of” returns.
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Ian Maule
Under the rules, the kicking team lines up on the receiving team’s 40-yard line and is not allowed to move until the football hits the ground, the end zone, or a player in the “landing zone”—an area between the 20- and 30-yard lines.
The kicker still kicks the ball from their own 35-yard line and cannot cross the 50-yard line until the ball hits the ground, or a player who is in the landing zone or end zone.
Surprise onside kicks are prohibited, with the play now only being allowed after being announced in advance by a team that is trailing in the fourth quarter.
The receiving team, minus two players in the landing zone, lines up in a “setup zone” between its own 30- and 35-yard lines and must return any ball that lands in the landing zone, unless it bounces into the end zone.
Touchbacks are discouraged under the new system—the ball is placed at the 30-yard line if the kicking team kicks it directly into the end zone and the 40-yard line if it fails to reach the landing zone or is kicked out of bounds.
Despite Trump’s assertion that the new rules were “effectively getting rid of” kickoff returns, the NFL reported that the change has had the opposite effect during the preseason, more than tripling the rate of returns.
Last year’s NFL season had a record-low kickoff return rate of 22.1 percent, while the ball was returned during kickoffs in 70.5 percent of preseason games under the new rules.
Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Friday night.
CBS analyst Bill Cowher, a former NFL player, coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, recently praised the rules change as a way to increase kickoff returns and as “a deterrent to kick the touchback.”
“I like it. No. 1, we’re trying to bring back the return,” Cowher told CBS Sports last month. “You had 13 kickoffs in the Super Bowl and not one was returned. I understand that part of it. It looks strange at first, but I’m excited for it. I’m hoping this brings the return back into play and it’s much safer.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-06 15:19:00
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