NFL touchback numbers dropped in the first week of the 2016 preseason despite an offseason rule change that marks them at the 25-yard line instead of the 20.
According to NFL.com numbers, 29 percent of Week 1 kickoffs (42 of 142) were downed in the end zone for a touchback. That's well below the league's rate of 56 percent during the 2015 regular season.
More kickoffs tend to be returned in the preseason, when a big return can boost players' chances of making the team. But the 2015 preseason rate of touchbacks was 43.4 percent, still notably higher than what the league produced in the first week of the 2016 preseason.
Although it is a small sample size, the rate decrease is consistent with what NFL coaches have said about the rule change during training camp.
The league is attempting to reduce returns for safety purposes, hoping that better field position will incentivize more teams to take touchbacks. Coaches have said they will experiment this summer with pop-up kicks that drop short of the goal line, thus forcing a return and achieving the opposite effect of the rule change.
NFL officials have said they will study the full-season impact of the new touchback rule before deciding whether to abandon or tweak it in the offseason.
During a conference call with league executives last spring, special teams coaches advocated a new, mandatory formation that would convert the kickoff into a play closer to a punt.