The dynamic kickoff is the kickoff format the NFL adopted in 2024 and made permanent in 2025. The kicker still kicks from his own 35, but everyone else lines up 25 yards downfield and nobody can move until the ball lands. A kick into the end zone is a touchback at the 35-yard line, so teams are pushed to kick short and force a return.
Updated Sept. 17, 2026.
Picture the field before the kick. The kicker stands alone at his own 35. His ten teammates line up on the receiving team's 40-yard line. The receiving team puts at least nine players in the setup zone, the five yards between its own 30 and 35, with at most two returners back near the goal line. Only the kicker and the returners can move until the ball either hits the ground or is caught by a returner. That takes the 40-yard sprint out of the play, which was the whole point.
The landing zone is the strip between the receiving team's goal line and its 20. A kick that comes down there has to be returned. A kick that reaches the end zone can be downed for a touchback, and here is the change that made 2025 different from 2024: the touchback now comes out to the 35 instead of the 30. A kick that lands in the landing zone and then rolls into the end zone is a touchback at the 20. A kick that comes down short of the landing zone, or goes out of bounds, gives the receiving team the ball at its own 40.
The math is what changed behavior. Kicking it deep hands the other team the ball at the 35, which is worse for the kicking team than most returns. So kickers aim for the landing zone and coverage units tackle from 25 yards away instead of 60. Returns jumped in 2024 and again in 2025, and the play went from a formality back to something that decides field position.
Under the old rules, a team with a good kicker could boom every kickoff for a touchback at the 25 and never let the returner touch the ball. In 2025, doing that gives the opponent the ball at the 35, so the same kicker now tries to drop the ball inside the 20 and dares the returner to run it out.
The 35-yard line, as of the 2025 season. In 2024, the first year of the dynamic kickoff, it was the 30. A kick that lands in the landing zone first and then goes into the end zone is a touchback at the 20.
The area between the receiving team's goal line and its 20-yard line. A kick that comes down there must be returned. A kick that falls short of it is treated like a kick out of bounds and the receiving team gets the ball at its 40.
No. Only the kicker and the returners can move until the ball hits the ground or a returner catches it. The ten coverage players and the nine blockers in the setup zone have to hold still, which is why they start only five yards apart.
Category: CBA & League Rules. Part of the StickToTheModel NFL Encyclopedia.