The NFL owners met this week to discuss various topics, and while the main chatter has been about the Tush Push, the league also quietly approved a change to the onside kick for the upcoming 2025-26 NFL season.
What are the new onside kick rules in the NFL?
The NFL’s dynamic kickoff, which was introduced in the 2024 season, isn’t going anywhere, but there have been some changes to the onside kicks – namely, more flexibility.
When the kickoff rule was first implemented last season, it only allowed for teams to declare an onside kick if they were behind in the final quarter. But at the owners’ meeting on Tuesday, the league made a change that allows the trailing team to declare an onside kick at any point during the game. The team that is winning will still not be permitted to declare an onside kick attempt.
NFL owners have approved a change to the onside kick rule, allowing teams to declare an onside kick anytime while trailing as well as line up one-yard closer to opponent.
Previously teams could only declare onside kicks while trailing in the fourth quarter. pic.twitter.com/4MxdLcpcVm
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) May 21, 2025
The new rule also changes the formation of the onside kick. The players will now line up at the 35-yard line, with the kick going from the 34. While player safety is the most important factor, changes to help with that have led to the onside kick being more difficult to recover.
The league is hoping to make onside kicks easier to recover with these changes, and therefore more exciting to watch. In the 2024 season, onside kicks were recovered just 6% of the time.
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