NFL Kickoff between Bears & Texans (Photo via ESPN)
The NFL has introduced a new kickoff rule ahead of next season, and an oversight has made it so that a kicking team could have 12 players on the field.

The league went in this direction to increase kickoff return attempts, given how uneventful touchbacks are. But it doesn’t appear to be such a thrill just yet, with fans getting a first look at it during Thursday night’s Hall of Fame Game between the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans.

Of course, it’s still early days; there will be plenty of kickoffs to analyze soon enough. But it appears as if no one realized that some instances would necessitate kicking teams having a 12th player.

Given that the football often has difficulty remaining in place on the kicking tee during windy games, someone has to hold the ball, which is not out of the ordinary.

With the new rule, however, the 10 players, excluding the kicker, have to line up way ahead of the ball. Someone still has to hold it, so the NFL is permitting a 12th player to get on the field to do so in such instances.

That was the case during Thursday’s game. Check out the video below:

First Tory Taylor NFL sighting pic.twitter.com/ngb8JwMQen

— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) August 2, 2024

New NFL Kickoff Rule Allows For 12 Players, But Only For A Few Seconds After The Ball Is Kicked

Iowa punting legend Tory Taylor kept the ball in place on that play. But he couldn’t remain on the field too long after the ball was kicked.

While it’s not something that could actually affect the outcome of a kickoff during a windy game, there will still be 12 players from the kicking team on the field at once, albeit not for that long.

The new NFL kickoff rule will undoubtedly make for interesting situations, though it hasn’t gotten off to a particularly good start.