The new kickoff rules have created better field position and more big returns. The NFL said the average drive has started on the 28.3-yard line, compared with the 23.9-yard line last year. As for returns that get past the 30-yard line, the NFL has seen 36 percent this preseason compared with 11 percent last season.

“So we’ve seen a lot more kicks returned, we’ve seen some more dynamic kicks meaning big plays, and we’ve seen a greater distribution on where drives are starting,” said NFL executive Jeff Miller. The NFL is also hopeful that the new kickoff rules can help reverse the league’s two-year decline in scoring and passing stats.

But comparing the 2024 preseason to the 2023 regular season is apples to oranges. These are fake games, and many teams are just kicking away and saving their real tactics for the regular season.

Considering the new kickoff touchback is just 5 yards more than last year — moving to the 30 from the 25 — many teams will still just kick the ball out of the end zone.

Miller said kickoffs were returned 63 percent of the time in the 2023 preseason, before falling to 22 percent during the regular season. So the 78 percent return rate will drop significantly when the regular season begins.

The NFL tweaked the rule proposal in March to move the touchback from the 35-yard line to the 30, which the competition committee estimated would drop the return rate from 80 percent to about 50 percent. That’s a significant increase from last year’s 22 percent, but there will still be a lot of touchbacks in 2024.

The NFL always reserves the right to make material changes to the kickoff rule during the season — it would require the vote of 24 owners —– but the league typically lets a rule play out for the entire year.

“It’s a one-year rule change, we will continue to evaluate it throughout the season, and anything that needs clarification will come out as need be,” NFL executive Dawn Aponte said.

▪ Helmet technology: Anyone who has been even half paying attention to training camps has probably noticed that almost every player is wearing one of those funny-looking foam covers on his helmet, called a Guardian Cap.

After seeing the caps help reduce the concussion rate by about 50 percent with offensive and defensive linemen last year, the NFL made the caps mandatory for every player this training camp, except for quarterbacks, kickers, and punters. Players are even allowed to wear them in games, with six players wearing a Guardian Cap in the first preseason weekend, and five the second weekend.

But while the caps are mandatory, it seems the NFL also wants to transition away from them. Miller said the 2024 list of approved helmets now includes five models that test as well or better than other helmets plus the Guardian Cap.

The NFL told players they don’t have to wear a Guardian Cap if they chose one of those five models, and Miller said about 200 of 2,880 players in training camps are wearing one.

“We’re encouraged at this point of players moving toward those Guardian Cap-optional helmets, which are the best-performing helmets, which is terrific for player health,” Miller said. “We said for some number of these helmets, ‘If you wear it, you don’t have to wear the Guardian Cap, so that’s a half a pound of weight saved that you’re not putting on your head.’ ”

The NFL doesn’t know if the extra weight makes helmets more dangerous. But another reason for wanting to phase out Guardian Caps may be the negative implication attached to the product. A giant piece of foam surrounding the helmet gives the impression that the helmets aren’t safe enough on their own. The NFL surely doesn’t want to be viewed as sending its players onto the field with substandard head protection.

▪ Gambling: The NFL formalized its penalties last September for violating the gambling policy, making it a minimum two-year offense for anyone who bets on his team, and a lifetime ban for anyone who attempts to throw a game. The NFL hasn’t punished a player since, but the league is beefing up its education and support staff in 2024.

For the first time, all 17,000 players, coaches, staffers, league executives, officials, vendors, and more were required to undergo in-person education on the gambling policy this summer.

“It leads to better engagement and awareness,” said Sabrina Perel, NFL chief compliance officer.

The NFL also created the role of integrity representative for each team, typically a retired FBI or executive level police officer who has ties to local law enforcement, regulators, and NFL security. The integrity representative works on game days, monitoring for suspicious activity and supporting any investigations.

“If we have to follow up on information or conduct an investigation, having those relationships in advance make that much, much more effective,” said Cathy Lanier, NFL chief security officer.

The Paris Olympics served as one of the feel-good events of the summer. And for the first time, NFL players are dreaming of winning gold.

Flag football will be part of the next Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles, and NFL stars such as Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill already are saying they want to participate.

“Sign me up,” Hill said on his podcast. “To say that I was able to compete for a medal for the US, it’d be special.”

Most NFL head coaches would probably tell them, “Heck no.” The Olympics would interrupt training camp, and it’s hard to imagine teams allowing their players to participate and risk muscle pulls and ligament tears.

But the NFL may try to make it happen. The league is all-in on flag football as the grassroots form of the sport, and was instrumental in getting it to the Olympics. The LA Olympics will also be held earlier, July 14-30 compared with July 26-Aug. 11, making it less of a disruption for training camp.

“The amount of enthusiasm that we’ve seen among our players for flag football in 2028 has been remarkable,” said NFL executive Jeff Miller. “Conversations are continuing to go on, with the [Players Association] and players themselves . . . The hope would be that players who want to participate in the Olympics and represent their country have that opportunity to do so. No final answer, but it is something that we’re working on actively.”

Part of that decision may be the NFL studying the injury rate in flag football between now and 2028.

“I think one of the intriguing opportunities is to better understand the injury risk associated with flag football,” said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer. “That’s something that obviously hasn’t really been studied, and I think it plays into this discussion about who plays and how.”

It seemed a little strange two weeks ago when Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye only played six snaps in the preseason opener against the Panthers. But that’s nothing compared to the odd way the Falcons have handled their top two quarterbacks.

You’d think the Falcons would want to get some work for Kirk Cousins, their new $100 million quarterback who is still learning his receivers and is coming off an Achilles’ tear. But Cousins didn’t play a snap in the first two preseason games.

“It’s more about protecting our assets, mitigating injury with our guys, being able to do it the right way. We had those two joint practices against Miami, which was awesome,” coach Raheem Morris said on the “Up & Adams Show.”

Even stranger is their handling of rookie Michael Penix, the surprise No. 8 pick. He played 24 snaps in the preseason opener, completing 9 of 16 passes for 104 yards, but didn’t play in the second or third game.

“We feel really good where we’re at with Michael,” Morris said. “Mike showed us last week enough that we don’t have to play him [again] in the preseason.”

It’s a peculiar plan to develop a young quarterback, and portrays the Falcons as overly sensitive to Penix getting injured. Fellow rookies Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Maye, and Bo Nix were on track to play in two or three games.

By holding out Penix, the Falcons created suspicion that they plan to play Penix this season, or don’t want him playing well and creating a controversy with Cousins.

The Falcons’ decision to draft Penix after signing Cousins was one of the biggest head-scratchers of the offseason. Putting Penix on ice this preseason only adds to the strangeness.

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, the former Dolphins head coach and longtime Patriots assistant, took a public beating this past week. In an interview with Dan LeBatard, Tua Tagovailoa, who played for Flores in his first two seasons of 2020-21, called Flores a “terrible person” who constantly berated him with negativity. Bill Belichick got some shrapnel from the national media, too.

“Belichick guys, they’re all combative. They’re obnoxious,” Fox’s Colin Cowherd said. “This thing with Brian Flores, it’s beyond obnoxious, it’s cruel. Belichick guys in the NFL is toxic.”

It’s true that the Dolphins are 20-14 under Mike McDaniel vs. 24-25 under Flores, and that McDaniel’s unbridled optimism has helped get the most out of Tagovailoa. But Flores doesn’t deserve such a bad rap, either.

He took over a rebuilding/tanking Dolphins team in 2019, and went 24-18 after starting his tenure 0-7. Flores went 10-6 and 9-8 his last two seasons, so his hard-nosed style did get some results. He also didn’t have Tyreek Hill, Jalen Ramsey, or Bradley Chubb on his teams.

Tagovailoa was not a sure-thing franchise quarterback in 2020-21, either. He was extremely raw as a rookie, and clearly was forced upon Flores in the middle of the 2020 season. Flores also wasn’t the only one inside the building with questions about Tagovailoa, as the Dolphins considered replacing him after the 2021 season with Tom Brady and Deshaun Watson.

Without knowing the full extent of the Flores-Tagovailoa relationship, it’s probably fair to assume that Flores was over the top with his negativity toward his quarterback, and needs to learn how to develop different leadership styles for different players. But Flores wasn’t a bad head coach, either.

“Sunday Night Football” on NBC has been the NFL’s signature broadcast since 2006, and the Patriots used to be a frequent guest. From 2006-21, they appeared 34 times, tied with the Steelers and Eagles for third most (the Cowboys had 49 and Packers 35). The Patriots had multiple appearances every year from 2012-20.

But in a sign of the times, Sunday night’s preseason finale at Washington is the Patriots’ only time on “SNF” all season. This marks the second time in three years that the Patriots won’t have a game on the traditional “SNF” broadcast.

At least in 2022 the Patriots still had four prime-time games — two on Monday and two on Thursday, including a Thanksgiving night game with most of the “SNF” crew. Last year, the Patriots played a Week 2 game against Miami on “SNF.” But unless they have a surprise season and get flexed late in the year, the 2024 Patriots won’t play on Sunday (or Monday) night, and will play just one prime-time game, a Thursday night game at the Jets in Week 3.

When the Patriots traded Matthew Judon to the Falcons, it was unclear why Judon chose the Falcons over the Bears, and why Judon wasn’t asking for a new contract from the Falcons when he made such a big deal about it with the Patriots. Thankfully, “Hard Knocks” with the Bears filled in some answers. Last Wednesday’s show revealed that the Bears were willing to part with a third-round pick for Judon, but general manager Ryan Poles didn’t want to do it unless Judon agreed to a new contract. “Hard Knocks” didn’t divulge the contract offer, but clearly it was not to Judon’s liking. Similarly, it seems that Judon believes he can make more money by proving himself with the Falcons, who apparently had no qualms giving up a third-rounder despite no assurances past this season . . . Have the GMs in the NFC East forgotten they are rivals? The Commanders traded receiver Jahan Dotson to the Eagles this past week, the Giants sent defensive tackle Jordan Phillips to the Cowboys, and the Eagles and Commanders also executed a draft-day trade that netted the Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean . . . Also in that interview with LeBatard, Tagovailoa acknowledged the Dolphins were “really trying” to get Hill to break the 2,000-yard barrier last year. A late-season injury ended Hill’s bid and he finished with 1,799 receiving yards. “It wasn’t like we were trying to hide that,” Tagovailoa said. “It was pretty obvious, trying to feed him the ball and whatnot.” . . . After the draft, Giants receiver Malik Nabers created a headache by saying that he and LSU teammate Daniels had a $10,000 bet over who would win Offensive Rookie of the Year. “The league addressed the matter directly with the NFL Players Association, with the two teams, and the two players, to ensure that they understood the policy,” NFL executive Jeff Miller said. “They received multiple education training sessions since that time, and as a result of all the work that went into it, we’re comfortable with the resolution.” . . . Props to the Colts medical team for flagging defensive tackle Raekwon Davis for high blood pressure during his preseason physical, which kept Davis out of camp until this past week. “We’ve been saying so much with high blood pressure, with heart attacks and things like that,” Davis said via the Indianapolis Star. “It’s a great thing they caught that.” . . . The Pro Football Hall of Fame changed some of its eligibility guidelines on Friday, namely that “coaches” will now be separate from “contributors,” and the waiting period for coaches is now reduced from five years out of the game to one. This means that Belichick should be eligible as soon as 2026 if he doesn’t end up coaching next season. Belichick is a lock for induction, the only question is for how many years does he want to enjoy it?

Ben Volin can be reached at [email protected].