NFL's Proposed New Alternative to Onside Kick Seems Way Easier to Convert

Onside kicks have become almost pointless given the low success rate, and the NFL is trying their best to come up with a better alternative, with one proposal already seeming like a potential replacement.

A proposal that would let a team try a 4th-and-15 play from the 25-yard line instead of the traditional kick to keep position is gaining steam.

Unfortunately for fans happing to see Patrick Mahomes play "make it, take it" and throw bombs to Tyreek Hill over and over again, no team can try this new format more than twice in a game.

This rule change stretches all the way back to the defunct AAF, where a 4th-and-12 play was attempted instead of a traditional onside kick. The success rate on 4th-and-12 plays over the last decade was around 16 percent, much higher than the seven percent success rate onside kicks have had over the last two years.

Onside kicks usually have an extremely poor success rate, so this would help teams trying to mount a comeback stay in the game longer, as opposed to seeing their comeback hopes anticlimactically whimper out after a poor onside kick.

There are some questions to answer, like where the opposing team will get the ball should the conversion fail, but it is encouraging to see the NFL alter this outdated play.