New kickoff format, ban on hip-drop tackle among 10 rule proposals to be heard at Annual League Meeting

The NFL on Wednesday announced its final 2024 playing rule, bylaw and resolution proposals to be voted on at next week's Annual League Meeting, which takes place March 24-27.

The league's competition committee is presenting six rule changes, which accompany four proposed by NFL clubs. The committee's proposals for a new kickoff format and a ban on the hip-drop tackle highlight the potential changes for 2024.

Proposed for one year only, the new kickoff rules would feature new alignments for the both the kicking and receiving units. A proposed "landing zone," the area between the receiving team's goal line and its 20-yard line, would prompt action off the kickoff if the ball were to land there.

Kickoffs would remain at the 35-yard line but the remaining 10 players of the kicking unit would line up at the opposing team's 40-yard line. The receiving team would line up with at least seven players in the "set up zone," a five-yard area between their own 35- and 30-yard lines, and a maximum of two returners are permitted to line up in the landing zone.

Once the ball is kicked off, the kicker cannot cross the 50-yard line until ball touches the ground or player in landing zone or end zone, and the 10 kicking team players cannot move until the ball hits the ground or player in the landing zone or the end zone. The receiving team players in the set up zone also cannot move until the kick has hit the ground or a player in the landing zone or the end zone, but the returner(s) may move at any time prior to or during the kickoff.

Kickoff scenarios under the committee's proposal would have the following rules:

Set up and landing zones will not change with any penalties that carry over to kickoffs, nor will the alignment of the 10 kickoff