Potential Rule Change on Onside Kicks Would Require Fourth-and-15 Menu of Plays

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With the NFL’s player-safety rules having the unintended consequence of ruining the onside kick, the league is considering a radical move: a fourth-and-15 from the 25-yard line.

Until rules changes implemented in 2018, kicking-team members were allowed to have a running start and could overload one side of the formation or another on all kickoffs, including onside kicks. Starting in 2018, however, the kicking team had to align at the spot of the kick (the 35-yard line) with five players on each side of the formation. While concussions are down, so are successful onside kicks. In 2017, the kicking team was successful 21.7 of the time. The past two seasons, the kicking team was successful on only 11-of-109 onside-kick attempts (10.1 percent), including a feeble 4-of-53 (7.5 percent) in 2018. Last year, Atlanta recovered two in a Week 13 game against New Orleans. Prior to that, the kicking team was successful on only 3-of-37 (8.1 percent).

“I just think the difficulty is based on how you have to align the guys, five on each side and you have to have so many guys outside the numbers, so many guys between the numbers and the hash inbounds line right there, it makes it a little bit harder because you can't do a six-man overload like you did before,” special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga said in a Zoom call with reporters on Friday. “It’s made the play safer but it has made it harder. We just have to try different types of kicks. With the rules, it has made it harder. It’s our job to come up with the kicks and find the scheme that allows us to get that.”

On third- or fourth-and-15 last season, teams converted 24-of-151, or 15.9 percent. The Packers were 1-of-5. Over the last decade, Green Bay converted 6-of-39, the 15.4 percent success rate being on par with the league overall. Defensively over the last decade, opponents were 4-of-36 against Green Bay, or 11.1 percent.

In the fourth-and-15 scenario, the line to gain for a first down is the 40. If the offense, for example, gains 17 yards to the 42, it would take possession at the 42. If the defense prevents the first down, it would take possession at the dead-ball spot. For example, if the result of the play is an incomplete pass, the opposing team would take possession at the 25. If there’s a penalty on the offense – holding, for instance – it can’t change its mind and kick. Instead, it would face a fourth-and-25 from the 15.

Teams can still kick a traditional onside kick.

“I’m not going to lie to you, on our game sheet we really don’t have that fourth-and-15 section right now,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said in his Zoom call. “But with the changes coming out, it might be something we have to throw in there and investigate and look at. It’s a very unique situation. That is a long down and distance, and even third-and-11-plus is not the highest percentage across the league on a conversion rate. It’ll definitely be interesting to see what we think we can do and dial up some fun, creative things.”