The NFL’s one-year experiment with the new kickoff rule becomes permanent this season with a new tweak that the league hopes will lead to a bigger increase in the rate of returns.

The league also approved changes to the overtime rule, expanded replay assist and made a few other technical changes for this season. Those were on display during the exhibition opener Thursday night between the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers that also featured the NFL’s Hawk-Eye virtual measuring that replaced the old-time chains to determine first downs.

The league experimented with the so-called dynamic kickoff in 2024 in hopes of more returns while also making the play safer. Owners voted in April to make the change permanent while moving touchbacks on kicks that reach the end zone on the fly from the 30 to the 35, which is expected to lead to more kicks in play and more returns.

There was no change in the tush push play that Philadelphia used so successfully on the way to winning the Super Bowl last season.

Here’s an explanation of some of the new rules that will be in place.

 

What’s new with the kickoff?

The league was mostly pleased with the experimental kickoff put in place for 2024 that led to the rate of kickoff returns increasing from a record-low 21.8% in 2023 to 32.8% last season, while reducing the rate of injuries on what had been the game’s most dangerous play.

The rule made kickoffs more like scrimmage plays by placing the coverage players and blockers close together to eliminate the high-speed collisions that had contributed to so many injuries on the play. The league said the rate of concussions dropped 43% on returns, with a significant reduction as well in lower-body injuries.

The problem last season was many teams still opted to kick the ball in the end zone because the touchback wasn’t punitive enough. The average starting field position on a touchback was only 2.4 yards further than the average starting position after returns, which was the 27.6-yard line.

By moving the touchback to the 35, the league projects that the return rate will rise to somewhere between 60% and 70%, with a similar increase in long returns, adding more excitement to the game.

The league also approved a small tweak to how blockers on the return team are allowed to line up in the setup zone that could lead to longer returns.

In the game Thursday night, there were seven returns on the nine kickoffs — including a lost fumble by Detroit on the opening kick. There was one kick that went for a touchback and another that didn’t reach the landing zone in the air and was spotted at the 40.

How about onside kicks?

Teams will still need to declare their intention to try an onside kick because of the different formation. But a new change will allow trailing teams to try one before the start of the fourth quarter after Kansas City had to kick deep while down 28 points in the final minute of the third quarter in the Super Bowl.

Coverage players will also be allowed to line up one yard closer in hopes of increasing the rate of recovery from about 6% over the past three seasons to at least 10%.

How will overtime change?

The league approved a proposal to make the regular season overtime more like the postseason, with both teams getting a chance at a possession, even if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown.

The NFL added regular season overtime in 1974, adding a 15-minute sudden death period that ended on any score. In 2010, the rule was tweaked to a modified sudden death that required an opening possession touchdown to immediately end the game instead of only a field goal. That was in effect in both the regular season and the playoffs.

Overtime then was shortened for the regular season to only 10 minutes in 2017. A rule change in 2022 for the playoffs only gave both teams the chance to score even with a touchdown on the opening possession.

Now that will be the case in the regular season, after the improved field position on kickoffs made winning in OT on an opening possession TD easier.

According to Sportradar, six of the 16 overtime games last season ended on an opening-drive TD for the most overtime games ended on the first drive since the rule change went into effect in 2010.

In all, teams that won the overtime toss won 75% of the time last season, according to Sportradar, and have a .606 winning percentage in overtime since it was cut to 10 minutes.

The league kept the 10-minute overtime period instead of expanding it back to 15 minutes like was originally proposed by Philadelphia, which could lead to teams opting to go for 2 and a win if they match an opening-drive TD with one of their own since there might not be time for another possession.

Replay assist

The NFL expanded its replay assist system to overturn objective calls if there was “clear and obvious” evidence that a foul didn’t occur. The calls could include facemask penalties, whether there was forcible contact to the head or neck area, horse-collar tackles and tripping. Replay also would be able to overturn a roughing-the-kicker or running-into-the-kicker penalty if video showed the defender made contact with the ball.

The league has been using replay assist in recent years to overturn obvious errors on aspects like whether a pass is caught or where the ball should be spotted without the referee needing to stop the game for a review.

The Competition Committee says there’s no interest in allowing replay assists to call penalties on plays missed by officials on the field.

Other changes

Referees will no longer use the chains to determine first downs, opting instead for a virtual measuring system. This won’t eliminate the officials who manually spot the ball and use chains to mark the line to gain.

That was on display Thursday night for the first time after a 10-yard run by Detroit’s Craig Reynolds in the second quarter. The officials stopped the game for a measurement and instead of the chains coming on the field, everyone looked at the video board and saw that Reynolds got the first down.

There were some procedural rules changed in regards to injured reserve. Teams can place two players on injured reserve with the designation to return when rosters are reduced to 53 players instead of after. Playoff teams also will be granted two additional return from IR designations.

— By JOSH DUBOW, AP Pro Football Writer

One of Michigan’s fastest-growing counties is dropping “Where Freedom Rings” as its motto, less than a year after hard-right elected officials lost their majority on the governing board.

By Josh Boak and Alexa St. John, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — U.S. automakers are concerned about President Donald Trump’s agreement to tariff Japanese vehicles at 15%, saying they will face steeper import taxes on steel, aluminum and parts than their competitors.

“We need to review all the details of the agreement, but this is a deal that will charge lower tariffs on Japanese autos with no U.S. content,” said Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents American automakers General Motors, Ford and Jeep-maker Stellantis.

Blunt said in an interview the U.S. companies and workers “definitely are at a disadvantage” because they face a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum and a 25% tariff on parts and finished vehicles, with some exceptions for products covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that went into effect in 2020.

The domestic automaker reaction reveals the challenge of enforcing policies across the world economy, showing that for all of Trump’s promises there can be genuine tradeoffs from policy choices that risk serious blowback in politically important states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, where automaking is both a source of income and of identity.

Trump portrayed the trade framework as a major win after announcing it on Tuesday, saying it would add hundreds of thousands of jobs to the U.S. economy and open the Japanese economy in ways that could close a persistent trade imbalance. The agreement includes a 15% tariff that replaces the 25% import tax the Republican president had threatened to charge starting on Aug. 1. Japan would also put together $550 billion to invest in U.S. projects, the White House said.

The framework with Japan will remove regulations that prevent American vehicles from being sold in that country, the White House has said, adding that it would be possible for vehicles built in Detroit to be shipped directly to Japan and ready to be sold.

But Blunt said that foreign auto producers, including the U.S., Europe and South Korea, have just a 6% share in Japan, raising skepticism that simply having the open market that the Trump administration says will exist in that country will be sufficient.

“Tough nut to crack, and I’d be very surprised if we see any meaningful market penetration in Japan,” Blunt said.

Asked at Wednesday’s briefing about whether Trump’s sectoral tariffs such as those on autos were now subject to possible change, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the issue had been going through the Commerce Department.

The framework with Japan was also an indication that some nations simply saw it as preferential to have a set tariff rate rather than be whipsawed by Trump’s changes on import taxes since April. But for the moment, both Japan and the United Kingdom with its quotas on auto exports might enjoy a competitive edge in the U.S.

“With this agreement in place it provides Japan with a near-term operating cost advantage compared to other foreign automakers, and even some domestic U.S. product that uses a high degree of both foreign production and parts content,” said Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars. “It will be interesting to see if this is the first domino to fall in a series of foreign countries that decide long-term stability is more important that short term disputes over specific tariff rates.”

Major Japanese automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the trade framework, nor did Autos Drive America or the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, organizations that also represent the industry.

There is the possibility that the Japanese framework would give automakers and other countries grounds for pushing for changes in the Trump administration’s tariffs regime. The president has previously said that flexibility in import tax negotiations is something he values. The USMCA is up for review next year.

Ford, GM and Stellantis do “have every right to be upset,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president at consultancy AutoForecast Solutions.

But “Honda, Toyota, and Nissan still import vehicles from Mexico and Canada, where the current levels of tariffs can be higher than those applied to Japanese imports. Most of the high-volume models from Japanese brands are already produced in North America.”

Fiorani noted that among the few exceptions are the Toyota 4Runner, the Mazda CX-5 and the Subaru Forester, but most of the other imports fill niches that are too small to warrant production in the U.S.

“There will be negotiations between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, and it will probably result in tariffs no higher than 15%,” Fiorani added, “but nobody seems to be in a hurry to negotiate around the last Trump administration’s free trade agreement.”

The University of Michigan is under federal scrutiny after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the United States.

Trump's latest Canadian tariff threat deepens a rift between two North American countries that have suffered a debilitating blow to their decades-old alliance.

The federal government is withholding more than $6 billion in education grants — including more than $156 million for Michigan — to ensure they align with President Donald Trump’s priorities

There's now a federal mandate for communities to replace their lead pipes, so lessons from Flint's failures are valuable nationwide.

A judge has turned down requests for new trials by the parents of the Oxford High School shooter despite saying prosecutors willfully failed to disclose agreements with two key witnesses.

Pro-Palestinian activists accused the private security company of following them on and off campus.

The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s universities, voted against Santa Ono, who was most recently president of the University of Michigan.

The Michigan Supreme Court had dismissed appeals by families of students killed or wounded at Oxford High School in 2021. The order ends efforts to hold employees partly responsible for the mass shooting.

Christopher Schurr fatally shot the Congolese immigrant in the back of the head after a tumultuous traffic stop. Schurr’s trial ended with a hung jury.

Federal authorities say they arrested a 19-year-old man who is accused of planning an attack on a U.S. Army site in Michigan on behalf of Islamic State.

The trial of a Michigan police officer charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Black man has ended in a mistrial.

Jurors have struggled to reach a unanimous verdict on whether former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr was justified when he shot and killed Patrick Lyoya in April 2022.

State prosecutors have dropped felony charges against seven people accused of trespassing and resisting police a year ago during the break-up of a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Michigan.

Christopher Schurr testified in his own defense at his second-degree murder trial for the 2022 killing of Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant.

The Justice Department is suing four states over climate action. The DOJ says plans by Michigan and Hawaii to take legal action over climate harm would infringe on the federal government’s authority.

Government lawyers said the federal government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students after lawsuits across the country, including in Michigan.