Why Can’t NFL Kickoff Coverage Players Run Out of Bounds?

Sep 10

2 min read

Updated: Oct 10

An NFL kicking team player commits a five yard foul if he voluntarily goes out of bounds without receiving team contact to avoid a block before the receivers touch the ball or the kick ends.

Part of Football 101. Explore the guide to choose your next topic.

Kick returner Micah Hyde runs near the sideline during a 2013 NFL kickoff return against Pittsburgh.

Photo: Royalbroil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. The sideline is a hard boundary for both the return path and the coverage lanes.

The rule stops a coverage player from using the sideline as a shortcut around an opponent. Merely seeing a foot on the white line does not answer every part of the ruling.

Voluntary exit versus being forced out

Officials ask whether contact from a receiver caused the exit and whether the player was avoiding a block. A coverage player who steps out on his own to bypass a blocker fits the prohibited act. A player legally driven out by a blocker does not commit that same voluntary exit foul.

Returning immediately does not cancel a foul already committed. Conversely, being forced out does not give the player unrestricted permission to touch the kick when he returns.

Touching eligibility is a second question

Rule 6 separately restricts a kicking player who has gone out, voluntarily or after legal contact. On an onside kick he may not touch or recover beyond the receiving restraining line before a receiver touches first. On other free kicks the equivalent restriction applies in the landing zone or end zone.

He must also legally reestablish inbounds before touching. Our onside recovery guide explains why reaching the ball first does not by itself establish a legal recovery.

One example, two rulings

A blocker legally forces a coverage player across the sideline. The player returns with both feet inbounds, then reaches an untouched loose kickoff in the landing zone. There was no voluntary shortcut foul, but the separate restriction on his touching still matters.

Change the first action to an uncontacted step out around the blocker and officials can also have the five yard boundary foul.

Enforcement and nearby rules

When the receiving team keeps possession, free kick penalty options may allow the return to stand with yardage enforced from its end instead of a rekick. The exact foul and timing control.

A punt uses the scrimmage kick rules rather than this free kick article. And a ball kicked out of bounds is a different issue from a player stepping out. Watch the player, the cause of his exit and the ball’s touch sequence separately.