The Onside Kick Is on Life Support

Dean Blandino tells Rich the onside kick is on life support, and the way the league has tried to save it may have made the problem worse.

Blandino starts with the thing that matters most. The kickoff is integral to the fabric of the game. He is happy the league has held onto a version that keeps the return in play. That is worth protecting.

The onside kick is the part that isn't working. Success rate was 6 percent last year. You need a viable option when you are down multiple scores. That part of the conversation is not controversial.

The change the league made this year is the part Blandino pushes back on. Teams can now onside kick anytime during the game, including when they are ahead. Blandino calls it a solution looking for a problem.

His logic is clean. A team ahead is not onside kicking unless a coach tries to manipulate the moment. And the moment you remove the surprise element, because teams are no longer only getting ready for a normal kickoff in that scenario, the onside loses the one advantage it had left. Surprise.

Blandino predicts the outcome. Coaches who are too smart for their own good will try to use the expanded rule, try to run time off the clock, try to catch an opponent sleeping. It will backfire. It will hand the opponent great field position. And the league will end up rethinking the rule all over again.

Rich pivots to the alternative that keeps getting floated. The UFL's fourth and 12. Blandino worked there and has thoughts. He does not think fourth and 12 is enough. He would set it at fourth and 15 or longer. Either way, a drastic change, and he doesn't think the NFL is ready.

The wrinkle that gets less attention is defensive penalties on the conversion attempt. Blandino says it is officiated as normal. An illegal contact penalty is an automatic first down. That is a massive outcome.

Rich sharpens the point. Illegal contact calls happen away from the ball. A quick hand motion on a receiver running nowhere near the play can hand the offense a free first down, which was the play they needed anyway. That is a big reason there is pushback on the fourth and long option.

Blandino's summary is honest. He likes the onside kick if it can be made safe and executable. He does not like expanding when it can be used. He thinks a down-and-distance replacement is coming eventually. He does not think it is coming this year.

The league wants a comeback mechanism. The current version doesn't deliver one. The expanded version may make coaches give away games they should have won.