News & Notes: Justin Tucker Gives Insight to New Kickoff Rules

For years, the kickoff in the NFL has been an afterthought. But with the new rules coming this season, it’s generating a lot of buzz.

Justin Tucker was asked almost exclusively about the new format after Organized Team Activities on Thursday.

“[My] initial reaction was [that] you have to be positive about it and think about it in terms of, this is going to keep the play in the game,” he said. “This is not just going to keep the play in the game, it’s going to make it much more exciting. I think there’s going to be a lot more action as far as kicks that will be returned.

“In all likelihood, we’re going to see a lot more returns, and it will give a lot more guys opportunity to take that play and make it a big play. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be really exciting.”

Tucker said that when watching film of XFL kickoffs, which these new rules are modeled after, the kickers were involved in about 25% of the tackles. After joking about doing more shoulder shrugs because of that, Tucker was asked in all seriousness if he’s thinking about adding any weight due to the new rules.

“I have put on like 3.8 pounds,” he said. “Can you guys tell? Probably not. I’ll leave it at that.”

With the condensed nature of the new kickoff and the increased changes of the kicker getting involved in the tackles, Head Coach John Harbaugh was asked about the possibility of not using Tucker as the kickoff kicker.

“I would say that we’ve thought about everything,” Harbaugh said. “It’s just a matter of, ‘Do you have a guy that can kick it in there consistently?’ If you do, it probably is an advantage because you get an extra tackler in there, and you don’t put your kicker at risk,” he said. “So, I’d say we’re looking at every aspect we can think of.”