Donald Trump denounces the NFL’s new dynamic kickoff rule: ‘Get rid of it!’
He wrote further Truth Social: “The NFL needs to get rid of the ridiculous new Kickoff Rule!”
The rule Trump referenced in his post was implemented in September, at the start of the 2024-2025 season.
According to NFL Operationsthe dynamic kickoff rule was adopted “to address the lowest kickoff return percentage in NFL history during the 2023 season and an unacceptable number of kickoff injuries prior to that, NFL clubs have adopted a new kickoff rule for the 2024 season.”
The updated kickoff rule is designed to “resemble a typical scrimmage play by bringing players from both teams closer together and restricting movement to reduce space and speed” and to “promote greater efficiency.”
All NFL teams agreed to an overhaul of the kickoff format.
In an effort to reduce the “unacceptable injury rate”, players on the kicking team must now line up on the receiving team’s 40-yard line, rather than behind the kicker.
In addition, the kicking team’s players “cannot move until the ball touches the ground or the player in the landing zone or the end zone” and kickers “cannot cross the 50-yard line until the ball touches the ground or the player in the landing zone or the end zone” hits the end zone.” .
This is not the first time Trump has expressed disapproval of the rule change.
While speaking with Outkick.com’s Clay Travis during the University of Alabama-University of Georgia game in September, he said, “I don’t know what they do with the kickoff return in the NFL, and I don’t want to to get involved in controversies, but it looks so bad, and I noticed that they didn’t do that in college, and they shouldn’t do it, and I think the NFL needs to go back.
In the same breath, Trump acknowledged that the traditional kickoff format, still used in NCAA football, was “maybe a little more dangerous.”
Despite acknowledging potentially dangerous results with the outdated format, Trump seemingly concluded that there were inherent risks associated with playing football and that the rule was a “terrible mistake” because “it looks so strange.”
He added: “It’s, you know, it’s football. I think (the NFL) made a terrible mistake by doing that.
“But look, (college football didn’t do it) it was the first thing I looked at, I said ‘did they do it?’ It looks so strange and you can’t change something that works.”
Trump concluded by praising the matchup between the top teams from Alabama and Georgia — both states he ultimately won in the election — as “really great football” that was “great to watch.”
