The NFL expects the percentage of kickoffs returned to approximately double in 2025 compared to 2024, if the proposal to move touchbacks out to the 35-yard line passes.
Last year, 33 percent of kickoffs were returned after the new “dynamic” kickoff rule was implemented. That was an increase from the 22 percent of kickoffs that were returned in 2023 in the final year of the old kickoff rule — but it was still the second-lowest return rate in NFL history. In 2022, 38 percent of kickoffs were returned, and until touchbacks sharply increased in 2013, most kickoffs were returned every season in NFL history.