When the NFL begins the 2024 preseason with Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game between the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans, it will usher in a new era for the kickoff. Modified rules will radically change how players are lined up on both the kicking and receiving teams, all in an effort to encourage more kick returns with the theoretically reduced risk of serious injuries.

NFL referee John Hussey, who will officiate Bears-Texans this week, was at Kansas City Chiefs training camp and spoke to reporters about the new kickoff rules and regulations. Under the current format, there is one weather-related way for a team to field 12 players without penalty… provided that 12th player doesn’t do literally anything else other than hold the ball and get off the field.

Via ESPN:

He said that in the past few weeks, officials learned that in windy weather games, where teams might use kicking sticks to steady the ball, clubs will now be able to utilize a 12th player as a holder. The player won’t be able to do anything else on the play, and will have to vacate the field immediately after holding the kick.

“It’s going to be weird counting to 12,” Hussey said.

He joked, “Joe Fan would love that. A big moneymaker to raffle that off.”

Windy conditions regardless of year aren’t terribly uncommon, so we might see this exception to the “12 men on the field” penalty a few times this season.

Another interesting aspect of the kickoff alignment is the “landing zone,” which is between the receiving team’s goal line and the 20. If the ball is kicked or touched short of the landing zone, it’s penalized the same way as a kickoff out of bounds—the receiving team gets the ball at their own 40.

If a player catches the ball with one foot in bounds and one out of bounds, the ball is ruled out of bounds and the receiving team gets possession at its own 40-yard line. Similarly, if a player catches the kick with one foot inside the 20-yard line and the other outside it, the ball will be ruled outside the landing zone and the receiving team will take it at the 40.

“We’re all learning, truthfully,” Hussey said. “There’s conversation. Are they going to kick a line drive? Are they going to pooch the ball into the 20? Are they going to keep two receivers back? Move a 10th person up? There’s a lot we don’t know.”

On Tuesday at Chiefs practice, safety Deon Bush on the receiving team reached up and tipped the ball on kickoff, preventing it from reaching the landing zone. A reporter asked Hussey: Is that legal?

“He has to keep his feet on the ground, but as soon as he does [tip it], it’s dead,” Hussey said. “And he gets the ball at the 40.”

If there’s any reason to watch the preseason opener on Thursday, it may be to see how the Bears and Texans handle the kickoffs to (hopefully) get a better understanding of how this will be implemented.