Yes, the surprise onside kick is dead

As football season approaches, many who haven’t been paying close attention during the offseason are realizing that the new kickoff rule represents a big change.

The surprise onside kick is dead and over.

Many act like this is something new. But it is not. It was a clear and obvious part of the rule change the league passed in late March.

All onside kicks are announced in advance because the onside kick requires a completely different formation. Additionally, onside kicks cannot be performed until the fourth quarter. And only the team that is trailing can perform them.

While pre-2024 efforts to minimize kickoffs made it harder to recover onside kicks, the possibility of a surprise onside kick remained. Now that won’t happen. That can’t happen again, ever.

It is one of the few rule changes that currently limits the options available to teams. There have been two successful surprise onside kicks in the Super Bowl in the last 30 years (Cowboys-Steelers and Saints-Colts).

Still, the league believes it’s a fair trade: more kickoff returns in exchange for never, under any circumstances, the possibility of a surprise onside kick.

Regardless, those who were not aware of this consequence of the new kickoff formation in March are now noticing it. And many of them apparently don’t like it.

The good news is that the new formation was decided as a one-year experiment. To continue it in 2025, another 24 votes from the 32 owners are needed to keep it going.