Can the NFL revive the ‘dead’ onside kick? What about fourth and 20 instead?

Here are five things to know as Week 16 of the NFL season approaches, including the leagues top five teams.

The NFL appears to have landed on a concept to save the kickoff from pro football extinction.

Next, it might attempt to restore some measure of relevance to the onside kick.

While NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Troy Vincent, the leagues executive vice president of football operations, continued to express optimism last week about the new kickoff format, Vincent said the league and its competition committee will scrutinize the onside kick during the upcoming offseason.

We need to look at that, Vincent said at the owners meeting in Irving, Texas.

Thats a dead play.

That is a ceremonial play [with a] very low recovery rate.

League leaders similarly referred to the kickoff as a dead, ceremonial play last season before devising the XFL-style kickoff alignment that went into effect this season.

Now theyll go back to work on the onside kick, perhaps soliciting input again from special teams coaches leaguewide.

The @dallascowboys recover the onside kick! : #BALvsDAL on FOX : https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/zagr3wxakA Only 3 of 45 onside kicks have been recovered by the kicking team this season, a 6.7 percent success rate.

The onside kick necessarily had to change with this seasons new rules , given that the setup for the revamped kickoff alignment has 21 of the 22 players lined up on the same side of the field, with only the kicker on the other side.

Under the new rules, a team can attempt an onside kick only while trailing in the fourth quarter.

It must declare its intention, at which point the setup reverts to the traditional alignment.

That eliminated the surprise onside kick, but in truth, it had already basically disappeared.

There were only two surprise onside kicks last season.

More broadly, only 1 of 28 onside kicks, or 3.6 percent, was recovered by the kicking team through the Week 15 games last season.

It was 2 of 42, or 4.8 percent, in the 2022 season through Week 15.

Bucs recover the onside kick! : #BALvsTB on ESPN/ABC : Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/HMTrpgMWxd Our effort should be to make every single play a competitive play, Vincent said last week.

That includes that play, whether its [during the] first quarter or fourth quarter.

It will be challenging, however, for the league and its competition committee to design a version of the onside kick that gives the kicking team an improved chance of success while still adhering to player safety standards.

The onside kick is inherently a hazardous play players on the kicking team crash into players on the receiving team in their bid to knock the football loose.

All of this could leave the NFL, the competition committee and team owners reconsidering the possibility of implementing a fourth-and-15 or fourth-and-20 alternative to the onside kick .

The kicking team would send its offense on the field for a fourth-down play originating, based on past proposals, somewhere between its 20- and its 35-yard line.

If the offense gets the yardage necessary for a first down, it would retain possession of the ball.

If it fails on its attempt, the other team would take possession at that spot.

The NFL tested a fourth-and-15 alternative from the 25-yard line in the Pro Bowl in 2020.

The fourth-down alternative has been proposed regularly by individual teams in recent years, but it never has gotten particularly close to generating the 24 votes among the 32 owners needed for approval.

Some owners simply have regarded the measure as far too gimmicky.

Bears recover the onside kick! : #MINvsCHI on FOX : https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/3JVpREri2f Where we started and the votes that it received and where it ended a year ago, there has been progress, Vincent said.

But those are all the things that we should be exploring.

If were going to have a ceremonial play the way it is today on the kickoff [with onside kicks], weve got to be creative.

And I think our coaches, they can be creative enough to come up with a good, solid, competitive play to bring some excitement back in those situations.

There could be a resolution next year as to whether NFL players will be able to participate in flag football at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, a league official said last week.

Some prominent players have expressed interest in participating as the sport is included in the Olympics for the first time.

But there are issues related to injury risk and provisions in players contracts.

There also are complications with the timetable and potential conflicts with teams training camps, particularly with the NFL Players Association seeking to reconfigure the offseason calendar.

Under the NFLPAs concept, voluntary offseason workouts in the spring could be eliminated and players could report to training camp earlier in the summer.

The NFL has incorporated a flag football game into its reimagined Pro Bowl .

It has been supportive of the growth of flag football and seemingly would like for NFL players to be allowed to participate in the Olympics.

The league has been discussing the issue with its teams, the NFLPA and governing bodies such as the International Federation of American Football.

Game winner! Geno leads the NFC to a W in flag game one.

NFC is now tied with the AFC.

9-9 #ProBowlGames on ESPN pic.twitter.com/EV825M9ohC Peter OReilly, the NFLs executive vice president of club business, international and league events, said last week that a resolution is not imminent but progress is being made.

There wont be any near-term decision on this, he said.

But I think theres good momentum.

...

I would expect something in 2025 on that one.

The Buffalo Bills added 10 limited partners to their ownership group last week, including a 10 percent investment by Arctos Partners that represented one of the NFLs first two deals with private equity firms for minority ownership stakes.

The Bills new part-owners also include Sue McCollum, the owner and chief executive of two beverage distribution companies, and Theresia Gouw, the co-founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Acrew Capital.

Terry Pegula, the Bills principal owner, noted those additions as he spoke with reporters during a break in last weeks owners meeting.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish also was to bring in some women, he said.

Weve got two female investors that are very successful businesspeople.

Ive got three daughters that are involved in the team, hopefully more so in the future.

And I think thats a good thing for them to learn some business acumen from [them] and have some female input.

When Kim went down, that was a big loss of influence on my daughters as far as the business side goes.

Shes unable to be involved now.

Kim Pegula, Terrys wife and the teams co-owner, suffered cardiac arrest in 2022.

She suffered a brain injury related to her heart issue.

Terry Pegula was named her guardian last year.

At Bills training camp in July, she participated in the teams post-practice huddle and breakdown.

We all miss her, especially I do, Terry Pegula said last week.

I think she was always the personal part of it, you know, sending out Christmas cards, making cookies for the coaches.

Shed be up at 3 oclock in the morning every Sunday when we played, making cookies for the coaches.

We all miss that.

Kim Pegula broke down the team huddle today.

#BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/iiwWWTQODh Laura Pegula, a daughter of Terry Pegula from his previous marriage, has represented the Bills at NFL ownership meetings.

Terry reportedly transferred a small ownership stake in the team to Laura to satisfy league policies related to succession planning.

The Pegulas daughter Jessica is among the worlds top womens tennis players.

Jessica Pegula wrote in an essay last year for the Players Tribune that her mother always wanted her to be involved in the Bills and the NHLs Buffalo Sabres, which the family also owns, following her tennis career.

Terry Pegulas comments last week came with the Bills attempting to make a Super Bowl run after clinching their fifth straight AFC East title.

They also are building a new stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

Stadium costs are over budget, Pegula said last week.

Were on time.

Id rather be under budget and behind.

But in todays world, anybody whos building anything will tell you theyre over budget because of inflation, the aftereffects of covid and supply chain and all that kind of stuff.

Its the increased costs of doing business.

According to the Associated Press, cost overruns of more than $560 million have pushed the projected cost of the new stadium to more than $2.1 billion.

Weve actually built a stadium at the worst possible time you could in the last 30 years, Pegula said.

The NFL is analyzing a prospective 18-game regular season ahead of formal negotiations with the NFLPA on the matter, Goodell said last week.

The most important thing is to get an agreement with the Players Association.

...

We are doing analysis, I would say.

But we are not formalizing any plans at this point, Goodell said.

Lloyd Howell, the NFLPAs executive director, told The Washington Post in July that the union had engaged in high-level discussions with the NFL about the implementation of an 18-game season.

The talks had not progressed to formal negotiations, Howell said then.

A person familiar with the views of the league and the owners said last week that the deliberations over an 18-game season have been occurring quietly behind closed doors and a resolution is not imminent.

A high-ranking official with one team said: I do think it will happen.

But theres a lot of negotiating to be done on it.

The collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2030 season and specifically prohibits the league from unilaterally extending the regular season to 18 games.

In July, Howell left open the possibility that an 18-game season could go into effect, if players are in favor of it and if the union is able to secure what it might seek in negotiations with the league and owners, via an agreement between the NFL and NFLPA before the expiration of the current labor deal.

The details of Bill Belichicks contract while he coached the New England Patriots always were a closely guarded secret.

Thats not the case now that he coaches at a public university.

His five-year deal with North Carolina pays him $10 million per season, including a $1 million salary and $9 million in supplemental income.

The first three years are guaranteed; the final two are not.

The contract contains bonuses worth as much as $3.5 million annually.

Belichick, 72, was asked during his introductory news conference Thursday about the prospect of leaving the school to return to the NFL and said, I didnt come here to leave.

Terms of Bill Belichicks 5-year deal.

The first three years of the deal are fully guaranteed.

The final two are not.

pic.twitter.com/yTwJWBxURd.

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