The NFL has adjusted its kickoff regulations, angering numerous players, coaches and fans. Supporters promise more safety for the players. A look at the rule change shows that in the end it could only have losers, although the idea is a good one for now.A comment.

Quick changes of direction, hard hits, touchdowns, fumbles, acrobatic rescues: The kickoff in all its facets is always good for spectacle. But that could soon be over. Unfortunately.

The NFL is changing the kickoff rules. In the case of a fair catch, a team will be allowed to kick off from its own 25-yard line. No matter where the ball was caught. The result: the number of actual returns will go down. And this rule change, although well-intentioned, could end up with only losers.

Special teamers – coaches and players alike – feel unappreciated and fear for their jobs. Fans fear the extinction of the return and think wistfully of Cordarelle Patterson’s legendary runs, quite rightly. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid even suggested that “his” sport was degenerating further and further into “flag football”.

The NFL justifies the adjustment of the kickoff regulations with the fact that the injury rate on returns is actually higher. In the first place, of course, this is laudable and shows that a much-needed rethink has taken place in recent years.

NFL reforms kickoff rule: a look at the XFL wouldn’t have hurt

However, the new rule change increases player safety is more than questionable. The NFL expects fewer returns to take place. However, changes can also create entirely new – and then also more dangerous – situations.

Some examples that need to be questioned in this regard: Will the returner be tackled more aggressively to provoke a fumble on a fair-catch attempt downfield? Do teams kick a little shorter to “invite” the attacking team to returne? How will teams behave if the kickoff is moved forward or backward because of a penalty?

The added health value of the rule change could be marginal if it creates new risks. Instead, the NFL could have thought about a whole new approach to kickoffs and found inspiration in the XFL, for example.

There, in a nutshell, the two teams are closer together on kickoff returns, minimising the risk of a fast-paced collision, while still having a high rate of returns with plenty of highlights.

The NFL’s interpretation, on the other hand, could ensure that coaches, players and fans are disappointed and that the actually correct and important idea of minimising risk does not really come to the fore. And then this rule change would really only have losers.