The NFL Is Considering Changing The Onside Kick Rule

After overhauling the league's kickoff in 2024, the onside kick could be next, according to NFL exec Troy Vincent.

The league made the move to borrow the XFL's "Dynamic Kickoff" on a one-season basis this year, but onsides have remained mostly the same — outside of the fact that team's can no longer surprise opponents and by rule it has to take place in the fourth quarter by the losing team.

"We need to look at that. That's a dead play," Vincent said of onside kicks. "That is a ceremonial play. Very low recovery rate. When we look at the kickoff and maybe where the touchback area should be during the offseason, we need to revisit the onside kick."

Another thing the league's Competition Committee is looking at is allowing teams to try to convert a 4th-and-20 instead of kicking off for an onside try — something the Philadelphia Eagles proposed this past spring.

"It's something that started back with, if I'm not mistaken, John Elway was the first proposal about six years ago. The fourth-and-17 or fourth-and-23, one of those, and then over the previous three or four years, Philadelphia [has proposed it]," Vincent recalled. "It has garnered [support from] where it started and the votes that it received, and where it ended a year ago, there has been progress."