Tim Benz: Calling out another hypocritical, dumb NFL rule change in the name of 'player safety'

The National Football League has instituted yet another dumb rule change in the name of player safety.

What is really unsafe at this point, though, is the NFL’s radioactive level of hypocrisy.

Like, we’re talking about the “open the valves” scene in “Chernobyl” level of radioactive hypocrisy.

On Tuesday, the league announced it is adopting the college football fair-catch rule on kickoffs. So, from now on, a returner can call a fair catch at any spot inside the 25-yard line and be rewarded a fair catch at the 25.

The theory from the league is that too many injuries happen on kickoffs, so the NFL wants to lower the number of times they happen.

So, why not just eliminate kickoffs then? After all, the NFL has done everything possible over the years to minimize their frequency.

In 2011, they moved the spot of the kickoff up from the 30 to the 35-yard line to encourage touchbacks. In 2018, the NFL adopted the 25-yard line as the place to start drives after a kickoff touchback, instead of the 20, to discourage runners from returning kicks and simply accept the extra five yards than what they previously would have gotten.

“The kickoff play for us has been a play that has had a lot of changes for us over the years, all really driven by health and safety,” Rich McKay, chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, told NFL Network’s Judy Battista. “The concussion rate on the play has gone up. It’s gone up because the ball is being returned more by kicks that are being hung inside the 5-yard line. College made this rule change in maybe 2018 or 2019. We looked at their data and said, you know what, this is the right thing to do now. … We needed to do something. We just can’t sit there and ignore that data.”

Except they are ignoring the data.

The NFL could just eliminate the kickoffs entirely if it wanted to do so and give offenses the ball on the 20 or 25. After all, that would be as “safe” as humanly possible.

More sports

• Steelers' Kenny Pickett shows growth on, off field as OTAs begin
• Kenny Pickett content he has a fan in Steelers QB predecessor Ben Roethlisberger
• Mark Madden: A user's guide for Penguins GM candidates

But the NFL doesn’t want to do that because, occasionally, a long return can swing a game or result in more points on a return for a touchdown. That’s good for fantasy players. They also keep games close when they happen, and the NFL-licensed videos “trend on all the Twitters,” as the kids say.

Plus, without any kickoffs, there would be no onside kicks. No onside kicks mean less of a chance for a team to steal an extra possession and make a dramatic last-minute comeb…uh, I mean… cover a spread.

As a result, gamblers and fantasy players may tune out more quickly. That’s bad for ’em TV ratings, n’at!

So, from that sense, player safety be damned. Let players dive head-first toward each other for a loose ball on the ground.

But that blind eye toward hypocrisy about player safety on kickoffs has been obvious for years. What’s particularly galling about this NFL decision in 2023 is the timing of it.

I mean, the league made this rule change — again, in the name of player safety — during the same offseason when commissioner Roger Goodell fast-tracked a rule change to expand the option for teams to have multiple Thursday night games in the same year.

That is unmitigated temerity of the highest order.

Goodell sent McKay out on the league’s own network to fall on the sword of player safety, just weeks after the decision was made to allow for some teams (such as the Steelers in 2023) to have to play two NFL games on four days rest in the same season.

And we are being told we should be dumb enough to believe the league has player safety as its top goal.

What’s next, Roger? Are you gonna tell us how fan-friendly a league this is while also telling us we have to buy a streaming service to watch a playoff ga…?

Oops, never mind.

What’s really hilarious about all this is that the doofuses who run football won’t take the time to listen to the coaches who actually coach football.

According to ProFootballTalk, a bunch of special teams coaches have been pleading to the league to avoid making this change because all it is going to do is encourage more squib kicks downfield because squib kicks can’t be turned into fair catches.

And squib kicks have the potential to be even more chaotic and more dangerous.

But, hey, why listen to the people who actually know what they are doing? Am I right? Optics are way more important than knowledge.

The rule change was approved for the 2023 season only. That way, in theory, the issue will be revisited next offseason after the league studies more data.

Or grows a conscience.

Yeah. I’m not holding my breath, either.

Did you see “Chernobyl,” by the way? I loved it. Truly excellent. Fantastic television. Gripping. You should watch it.