The NFL eliminated football's most exciting play in its effort to protect against concussions
- The NFL cracked down on kick returns because they feared they were causing too many concussions.
- As a result, touchdowns on kick returns have gone almost completely extinct.
Do you recall the last time you saw a kick returned for a touchdown in the NFL? You'd be forgiven if you don't, and the NFL probably prefers it that way.
There was a time when a kickoff or punt returned for a touchdown was among the most exciting plays in football. The anticipation followed by the crescendo of possibility if the returner got past the first wave of tacklers was matched only by a Hail Mary.
But as the concerns over concussions grew, the NFL changed kickoff rules to make them safer. It is one thing for players two yards away from each other to run at each other and collide heads; it is something else entirely when those players get a 50-yard running start.
Over the last seven years, there have been several changes, including making touchbacks more enticing by moving them to the 25-yard line, no running starts from the kicking team, and stricter rules on blocking.
The result is that the number of kickoffs returned for touchdowns has gone from about 20 per season in the late 2000s to early 2010s to just a single TD through more than half of this season.
And it is not just kickoffs.
As you can see in the chart above, we have seen a similar decline in punts returned for a touchdown. Interestingly, the NFL has not been as aggressive with the punt rules — although they are looking into making changes — suggesting that in this case, teams have gotten better at containing the return, the returner is more likely to fair catch, or punters are just getting better at aiming at the sidelines.
If we combine kickoffs and punts and consider the number of games in a season, we see that in 2007, we saw a return touchdown once every 6.1 games (almost three per week). Last year we saw an all-time low of one touchdown every 24.7 games (closer to once every two weeks).
This season there has been one in 10 weeks.
RIP kick-return touchdowns.