The new kicking rules and the Houston Texans: What will this season bring?

Some thoughts on what the new kickoff rules may mean for the 2024-25 Houston Texans

In the overall history of the Texans, their special teams play ranges from fair to middling. Few will look back fondly on the Marciano days, especially as he seemed to rule over their play for years. Not that the team hasn’t had their moments. In recent years, the special teams saw an uptick in the quality of play. Frank Ross rates among the best special teams coach in franchise history. Since he took over, the team’s special teams offered one of the few bright spots in the dark times that started the 2020s. With the team now emerging as a legit contender, the special teams figure to be a significant positive for the squad.

What will bear watching from a special teams perspective involves the new kicking rule changes and how that impacts the strong special teams unit for Houston. A quick primer on the new kick rules:

• The kicker lines up at his 35-yard line and cannot move until the ball advances beyond the 50-yard line
• The rest of the kicking team lines up at the 40-yard line (5 on each side) and must maintain at least one foot on the 40. They cannot move until the ball is fielded or lands in the landing zone (20-yard line – Goal line)
• The receiving team gets a 5 yard “set up zone” between the 30- and 35-yard line. 7 players from the receiving team must be on the 35-yard line. Two players can be off the 35-yard line in the set-up zone but must be lined up outside the hash marks
• The receiving team can have 2 returners behind the 30-yard line in the designated landing zone.
• There are no fair catches if the returner fields it in the landing zone. They catch it, they better be ready to return it.
• If the kickoff does not at least make it to the 20-yard line (start of landing zone), then it is considered a touchback with the ball placed at the 40-yard line
• If the kickoff sails directly into and/or out of the endzone on the fly, it is a touchback with the ball at the 30-yard line
• If the kickoff lands in the landing zone, and rolls into the end zone and is not fielded before then, it is a touchback to the 20-yard line

In one respect, the new rules could hinder Houston. Under the 2023 rules, the team rated highly in touchbacks and overall kick coverage. They also logged 2 of the 4 kickoff returns for TDs in the NFL (Dameon Pierce and Andrew Beck). If anything, they could have been part of the group lobbying against the new rules. When did you ever think you would see that the Texans’ held some of the strongest special teams in the game?

Yet, in peeling back the special teams onion, there exists some interesting possibilities for the Texans entering 2024. Borrowing the old XFL model for kick-offs, it is likely that someone like Dameon Pierce will be a prime candidate for excelling in this new environment. With a significantly reduced distance between the kick return team and kick coverage, run-blocking type concepts may dominate. Beck might be even more of a fullback as a “lead blocker” on returns for someone like Pierce. Guys with shiftiness and speed will always have a home on special teams. Yet, straight line speed may no longer be the asset it once was, especially with increased blocking engagements to navigate. Also, those that are on the field for kick blocking, will they be on the field more for blocking in closer quarters vs. blocking in space? Not that you would expect some like Tunsil or Howard on the field for blocking, but if a backup Oline player with some wheels is on the roster, would they be among the key special teams starters? Perhaps you will see more linemen to offer size for the kick return blocking than you might have observed in the past.

Also, what of the kicker? In 2023, kickoffs, unless due to extenuating in-game circumstances, saw the place-kicker handle that duty. Since most kicks made it into the end-zone for a touchback, it was not a major stress on their primary responsibilities. Yet, with a full-up touchback not optimal under the new kickoff rules, there is the increased likelihood that kickers will need to be more than just the dude that kicks the ball. With 10 players centered near the setup area/landing zone, the kicker will have to act as the special teams’ safety. While it is usually not a good thing for the kicker to tackle, it may become even more of a necessity. Thus, some creative solutions are appearing. The defending champion Chiefs are reportedly looking to Safety Justin Reid (yes, that Justin Reid) to handle kick-off duties. Additionally, kickers like Justin Tucker are hitting the weight room to bulk up in anticipation of having to make more important tackles on kick coverage (even if the Tucker message was a little tongue-in-cheek). Perhaps a field position player will log the majority of kickoffs.

While we don’t have reports of Fairbairn bulking too much, we haven’t heard or observed any actions to suggest that someone other than the placekicker will handle kickoff responsibilities. Dare Ogunbowale is projected to return to the roster, so the emergency kicker spot appears set. FWIW, in his kicking spell against Tampa Bay, he did manage to get 3 touchbacks, but two of those came because of kicking off further up the field due to Buccaneer penalties. He did show enough of a leg that he could get the ball to land in the designated zone. However, a team can’t afford to go short, as the ball landing short will offer the receiving team incredible field position (40-yard line).

Another consideration for team may rest on their defensive capabilities. A “classic” touchback places the ball at the 30-yard line, vs. just kicking into the designated landing zone. Yet, if a team has a formidable defense, and they are facing a team with a weaker offense, they might just go with the “touchback penalty”, just to mitigate the risk of a big play and rely on defense to quickly end a possession. Given the strength of the Texans’ special teams, they are likely to try to get the other team to actually run back the kick, relying on a balance of good special teams and strong defense to mitigate any concerns. Additionally, given the Texans’ strength on special teams, they seem just as likely to eagerly await the challenge of a kick return.

It does suck to lose the surprise onside kick (and a lesser loss, the end of the squib kick to kill the clock/mitigate a bit return), but the Texans haven’t really employed the surprise onside option in the Frank Ross special teams reign. Either they didn’t have the talent to make the gamble worth it, or the team was in a position that they didn’t need to rely on such trickery to make good things happen. Personally would have loved to see the NFL incorporate some sort of surprise onside capability, or just adapt the 4th and 12 you see in the UFL in the 4th quarter to try to get the ball back to the kicking team. Perhaps some future modifications will come. Or perhaps this will only be a one-year experiment (even the UFL did not adopt the XFL kickoff plan…). Still, it will make what had been a somewhat anti-climatic play climatic, potentially…well, except for Houston, which made the kickoff return much watch TV in 2023. Can that continue in 2024? Hopefully, for the good of the team, it will.