Buffalo Bills special teams coordinator Matt Smiley said the other day that the NFL’s new kickoff procedures aren’t creating excitement for him as they are anxiety because the play is now so vastly different and outcomes figure to be all over the map.

NFL referee Clay Martin, who is with his crew at St. John Fisher University getting their own practice work in, basically said the same is true from his perspective.

The newness of the kickoff play has created many extra hours of work for the officials who now have to learn the intricacies, of which there are several, and be prepared to make the proper calls under the glare of the always bright lights they operate under.

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“We’re excited to be here to see those live reps, right, because it’s going to be new for everybody,” said Martin, who will be entering his 10th year in the NFL and seventh as a referee. “They’re calling it the dynamic kickoff rule for a reason. Lots of changes, and it’s going to look unique, it’s going to feel unique to everybody that’s watching.

“Obviously, the Competition Committee wants to get returns back in the game, so this is our plan of attack right now to create a safe opportunity to create a return, and we’re going to use this time and preseason to figure it out ourselves a little bit, the mechanics, the new progressions for us on what we’re doing.”

New NFL kickoff rules for 2024

As many have said, the new kickoff play is going to resemble a regular play from the line of scrimmage in that there will be at least 17 players in the set up zone at the 40-yard-line of the receiving team. No one can move except the kicker and the one or two return men who are back deep until the ball is either caught or it hits the ground.

At that point, all of the blockers and coverage men can engage, and because there won’t be a running start for the cover team, there will be far less high speed collisions.

What the officials have to watch for is no one in that set up zone moving, or going over the line before the ball is live, and then to see where the kick lands if it’s not caught by the return man.

“I think in reality, once the ball’s caught, we’re officiating a scrimmage play, right?” Martin said. “Now, we gotta get to the ball being caught, or to the return first, and so it’s formation things that we’re not used to other than the kickers, for example, on a normal kick in the past. But the setup zones, all those types of things are going to be new for us and the players. The transitions are probably gonna be a little bit quicker because of where they’re lining up, where the ball’s caught. And then obviously the different touchback spots, if you will, or dead ball spots, so it’s gonna be fun.”

Martin said the officials are being taught to not be ticky-tack on whether anyone moves in the set up zone. “They’re not supposed to be moving until the ball is touched or hits the ground in the zone, but they’re trying to get a return back in the game and so we’re not going to be looking at, is his foot a half-inch off the ground,” Martin said. “It’s got to jump out to us. We want to see the clear and obvious, get the egregious. And if we need to make a judgment call, we will. But it’s not the focus of this.”

Where will officials be positioned during kickoffs?

One thing the officiating crew is working on this summer at various training camps is positioning.

“Obviously our mechanics are changing with where we’re lining up,” Martin said. “I think probably (Friday night at Highmark Stadium) we’re doing some kickoff work, just the mechanics of it. The way we’re lining up is almost going to look like a scrimmage play with the umpire coming back with me on the goal line, our short wings are going to be up at the 20, our deep wings are going to be up so we have officials that are looking at specific lines.”

One wrinkle Martin was asked about was what happens when the ball doesn’t stay on the tee in inclement weather. Ordinarily, one of the cover men comes over and holds it for the kicker, then runs downfield. Now, the kicker is by himself at his own 35, so in that case, a 12th player will be allowed onto the field to hold the ball, but he then must sprint back to the sideline and can’t participate in the play.

What will be interesting for the officials is what wrinkles the teams are going to use once the regular season starts. We won’t see anything too exotic in the preseason because teams won’t want to divulge any secret strategies or execution, so come Week 1, the officials will need to be sharp.

“We talked about that yesterday a little bit in our meeting,” Martin said. “We know that the preseason, at least if we’re guessing, is going to be pretty vanilla. Everybody’s going to line up in a nice timely fashion and we’re going to get everybody set up and we’re going to blow it in, we’re going to kick, we’re going to get a return.

“Come Week 1, there’s going to be things we haven’t seen. Hopefully the league is very adamant that we’re going to be evaluating this every week, every week, what are the challenges, what needs to happen? So if there needs to be some adjustments made or some different communication out of the office between preseason and Week 1, hopefully that will take place. We understand and we’d be foolish if we didn’t realize Week 1 ain’t gonna look like the next three.”

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Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: New NFL kickoff rules: Lots to figure out for Bills and officials