On Thanksgiving 2025, the Dallas Cowboys tried to make a rule look foolish instead of trying to win a special teams battle. Trailing the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas intentionally kicked out of bounds from the 50-yard line to pin the Chiefs at their own 25 rather than risk a return under the dynamic kickoff format. It was legal, effective, and a clear sign that the NFL’s revamped kickoff had a problem the league hadn’t accounted for. 

This week, the Competition Committee put forward a major kickoff rule change, amongst others, ahead of the Annual League Meeting in Arizona from March 29 to April 1. Three of those rules are about kickoffs, and something the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has spoken up against recently.

The biggest proposal would allow any team to declare an onside kick at any point during a game, not just trailing teams in the final minutes. Predictability has been the dynamic kickoff’s quiet flaw. Once onside attempts became a last-resort move, defenses could simply prepare for them. Opening that window to any team at any time reintroduces a strategy that the current format has mostly removed.

President Trump, addressing last season’s kickoff rules, had made his position clear on the same. On January 26, 2026, Trump took to Truth Social and outlined how the rules impact the game.

“I can’t watch the new NFL kickoff,” Donald Trump wrote. “Like many others, I just turn my head. Who has the right to make such a change? So disparaging to the game! The original was Big Time, Strong, Glamorous, and Exciting. The ridiculous new Kickoff Rule takes away the prestige and power of the game. I hope College Football doesn’t follow suit!”

The format President Trump misses had both teams in a full sprint at each other. But the league decided that was both dangerous and increasingly pointless. By 2023, return rates had dropped below 22% as kickers just booted the ball through the end zone to avoid the play entirely.

In 2024, the NFL implemented a new setup, so most players stand still until the ball lands. This led to more returns and fewer injuries. However, the new rule change followed suit in 2025.

The league opted to move the touchback to the 35-yard line to generate even more returns, and it worked. Through the first four weeks of 2025, teams were returning 78.3% of kickoffs, the highest in the league in 19 years. But more returns meant more collisions, and concussion rates on kickoffs rose significantly as a result.

Meanwhile, the second proposal from the league closes the exact loophole Dallas exploited on Thanksgiving: eliminating the incentive to kick intentionally out of bounds from the 50-yard line after a penalty. The third proposal tweaks how the receiving team lines up in the setup zone, adjusting their alignment to improve both player safety and return frequency.

Donald Trump wanted the old kickoff back. Instead, he’s getting a patched version of the one he already hates. 

More than just kickoffs

The fourth proposal would allow league personnel to consult with on-field officials on potential disqualifications in real time, even without a flag being thrown. This would account for some of the non-football acts on the field that the league has had to deal with.

Last season, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf had a sideline altercation with a Detroit Lions fan during Pittsburgh’s 29-24 win. While officials called no penalty immediately, Metcalf was suspended for two games by the league later. With the new rule, such acts will get flagged right away and could result in immediate action from the officials.

The fifth proposal is the most revealing one in the list. For 2026 only, the Officiating Department would have the authority to correct clear missed calls, but only in the event of a referee work stoppage.

The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Referees Association expires on May 31. NFL EVP Troy Vincent has already stated that talks to extend the agreement “have been unsuccessful.” The league is now assembling a list of roughly 150 replacement candidates drawn primarily from smaller college programs, with onboarding potentially beginning in April 2026 itself.

NFLRA Executive Director Scott Green said he was “surprised” the NFL would even consider going down this road again, given what happened the last time.

That last time was 2012, when a 110-day lockout created a whole host of missed/incorrect calls. The lockout ended only after replacement officials handed the Seattle Seahawks a Monday Night Football win over the Green Bay Packers on a play so badly called that it became known as the “Fail Mary.” The NFL acknowledged a touchdown that should never have counted, and two days after this botch-up, the two sides reached a deal.

The “one year only” label on this proposal is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The league isn’t adding an officiating correction mechanism simply because it wants better-called games. It’s building a contingency for a labor standoff it already expects to lose publicly, and it wants a rule on the books that at least lets it correct the worst mistakes before they go viral. That’s reputation management.

The NFL owners vote on all five proposals in Phoenix between March 29 and April 1. Each change will need at least 24 affirmations out of the league’s 32 teams.

Donald Trump wanted football back the way it was. But the NFL wants a format it owns and controls. Five proposed rule changes later, those two goals still haven’t come close to meeting in the middle.