Editing Onside kick (section)

== Modern American football usage ==
Starting in 1923, the following additional constraints in most forms of [[American football]] are relevant to the onside kick:
* The kick must be a free kick (a [[kickoff (American football)|kickoff]], or [[Safety kick|free kick]] after a [[Safety (American football score)|safety]]; in high school football, but not the NFL, the rare [[fair catch kick]] can also be recovered onside).
* The kick must cross the receiving team's restraining line (normally 10 yards in front of the kicking team's line), unless the receiving team touches the ball before that line.
* The kicking team may only recover and retain possession of the kicked ball, but not advance it.
* The kicking team must not interfere with an attempt by a player of the receiving side to catch the ball on the fly.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=1639809 |title=MNF officials confused by rule |website=[[ESPN]] |date=2003-10-17 |access-date=2017-01-16}}</ref>

[[File:Bears attempt onside kick at OSU at Cal 2009-11-07 1.JPG|thumb|left|[[2009 California Golden Bears football team|California]] lines up to attempt an onside kick against [[2009 Oregon State Beavers football team|Oregon State]] in a November 2009 American football game. Oregon State recovered the ball.]]
Unlike during a [[Punt (gridiron football)|punt]]—when if the kicking team catches or recovers the ball, it is "downed" and the receiving team possesses the ball—during a free kick, a ball that has crossed the receiving team's restraining line is normally a live ball, such that if the kicking team catches or recovers the ball it retains possession.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/2015-nfl-rulebook#pdf-download |title=2015 NFL Rulebook |website=[[NFL.com]] |access-date=2017-01-16}}</ref> "Onside" is therefore now a misnomer in American football; an onside kick is simply any free kick that is kicked in a particular way to give the kicking team the best chance of regaining possession—typically in a diagonal direction and as close to the advancing players from the kicking team as possible.

The kicking team generally attempts to make the ball bounce early (to remove the possibility of being charged with interfering with a catch) and be available around 20 yards in front of the spot of the kick. One technique, useful especially on a hard or artificial surface, is to kick the ball in such a way that it spins end-over-end near the ground and makes a sudden bounce high in the air. The oblong shape of an American football makes it bounce unpredictably, increasing the possibility that the receiving team will muff the catch.  An alternative is to kick the ball with great force directly at an opposing player. If the ball touches the player, but he cannot secure it, it becomes live regardless of whether it has traveled 10 yards.

When the receiving team expects an onside kick, it often fields a "hands team" of players skilled at catching or otherwise securing the ball. This is so they can make sure of securing possession once the ball has traveled the necessary 10 yards—the receiving team cannot simply refuse to touch the ball, as the ball is live once it has traveled 10 yards and can be claimed by either team; thus, if the receiving team does not make a play on the ball, it makes it far easier for the kicking team to do so and regain possession.

Traditionally, the onside kick had its own formation, in which the other ten players of the kicking team would line up on one side (left or right) of the kicker, in an effort to get as many people as possible into one area of the field. This is still popular in high school football; however, the NCAA (and later the NFL) now require that at least four players line up on each side of the kicker. To combat this, some teams (including the [[Buffalo Bills]], who pioneered this strategy<ref name="carucci">Carucci, Vic. [http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d8104d93c&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true No wedge means major adjustment for kickoff units]. NFL.com. 15 May 2009.</ref>) developed a "cluster formation" in which all of the players line up behind and immediately next to the kicker in what is effectively a moving [[huddle]]. The NFL eventually banned this, too, with a 2009 rule change that states that "the kicking team cannot have more than five players bunched together"; the rule change has been considered a gratuitous targeting of Bills special teams coach [[Bobby April]], as the ostensible reason for the ban (injury risk) had negligible evidence to support it.<ref name="carucci"/> Effective with the [[2018 NFL season|2018 season]], the NFL requires that the kicking team line up with five players on each side of the ball. Additionally, the kicking team's players must line up in a specified configuration—on each side of the ball, at least two players must be between the sideline and the numbered yard markings, and at least two must line up between the numbers and hashmarks. At the same time, the NFL also required that at least eight members of the receiving team line up within the 15-yard "setup zone" (between 10 and 25 yards from the kickoff spot).<ref name="Breech 2018-05-22">{{cite news|url=https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-kickoffs-will-be-undergoing-these-major-rule-changes-for-2018/ |title=NFL kickoffs will be undergoing these major rule changes for 2018 |last=Breech |first=John |date=May 22, 2018 |website=CBSSports.com |access-date= May 22, 2018}}</ref>

In 2018, the NFL also mandated that no member of the kicking team, apart from the kicker, could line up more than one yard from the spot of the kickoff. Previously, all members of the kicking team could line up as many as five yards from the kickoff spot, allowing that team to make a running start toward an onside kick.<ref name="Breech 2018-05-22"/>

[[File:Broncosonsidekick.jpg|thumb|330 px|The [[Denver Broncos]] (blue) attempting an onside kick in the fourth quarter against the [[History of the St. Louis Rams|St. Louis Rams]] on November 28, 2010, while trailing by three points. Denver did not recover. The Broncos' formation is now illegal in the NFL.]]
An onside kick is usually a desperation technique used when the kicking team trails in the game with little time left, in order to regain the ball and score again. The trade-off is that, in the usual case where the receiving team does get possession of the ball, it will have better field position and will need to advance the ball fewer yards in order to score. However, in the desperation situation, initial field position becomes less relevant, as the receiving team may focus on running the clock out and ending the game. If the kicking team succeeds in retaining possession, then the clock does not automatically stop as it would if the ball were transferred between teams (though it may stop for other reasons).

Occasionally, football coaches attempt surprise onside kicks to catch their opponent's players off guard and without the "hands team" on the field. Notable examples from championship games include [[Super Bowl XXX]], when [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] coach [[Bill Cowher]] called an onside kick early in the fourth quarter when trailing 20–10, which was successfully recovered, and [[Super Bowl XLIV]], where the [[New Orleans Saints]] executed an onside kickoff to start the second half and successfully converted the possession into a touchdown. In the [[2016 College Football Playoff National Championship]], with the score tied at 24–24 in the middle of the fourth quarter, the [[2015 Alabama Crimson Tide football team|Alabama Crimson Tide]] successfully executed an onside kick against the [[2015 Clemson Tigers football team|Clemson Tigers]], which led to a touchdown that gave Alabama the lead and eventual victory.

An onside kick is considered successful if the kicking team regains the ball. Between 2001 and 2010, surprise onside kicks were successful 60% of the time, while expected onside kicks were successful less than 20% of the time.<ref>{{cite web|last=Burke |first=Brian |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2280272/pagenum/all |title=Does it make sense to start overtime with a surprise onside kick? |website=Slate.com |date=2011-01-07 |access-date=2017-01-16}}</ref> Another study of just the 2005 and 2006 seasons also found similar disparities depending on whether the defense expects an onside kick.<ref name="brandt">{{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/draft/analysis/expert/brandt/st |title=NFL.com - NFL Draft Analysis |website=[[NFL.com]] |access-date=2017-01-16 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813092614/http://www.nfl.com/draft/analysis/expert/brandt/st |archive-date=2007-08-13 }}</ref> Accordingly, some analysts have suggested that the surprise onside kick is underutilized.<ref name="burke">{{cite web |last=Burke |first=Brian |url=http://www.advancednflstats.com/2009/09/onside-kicks.html |title=Advanced Football Analytics (formerly Advanced NFL Stats): Onside Kicks |website=Advancednflstats.com |date=2013-10-23 |access-date=2017-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723211542/http://www.advancednflstats.com/2009/09/onside-kicks.html |archive-date=2013-07-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2014, the Indianapolis Colts routinely used the onside kick, with three in the first six games of the season, often at the start of the game. Each of these was successful.

Overall, the success rate of the onside kick has dropped considerably since these rule changes. In the [[2018 NFL season|2018 season]], only 4 of 52 onside kicks ({{percent|4|52}}) were successful, a figure that had dropped to {{percent|2|32}} (two of 32) through the first eleven weeks of {{nfly|2019}}.<ref name="Breech 2018-11-23">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-to-reportedly-reconsider-possibility-of-implementing-wild-onside-kick-idea-that-was-originally-shot-down/|title=NFL to reportedly reconsider possibility of implementing wild onside kick idea that was originally shot down |first=John |last=Breech |website=CBSSports.com |date=November 23, 2019|access-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref>

Furthermore, for the [[2024 NFL season|2024 season]], the NFL adopted a [[Kickoff (gridiron football)#Procedure|new kickoff procedure]] that banned surprise onside kicks. Teams are now required to announce any onside kick attempts to officials before the play, and these may only be attempted by the losing team in the 4th quarter, which was changed to any quarter for the [[2025 NFL season|2025 season]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39812700/nfl-owners-approve-massive-revamp-kickoff-play |title=NFL owners approve massive revamp to kickoff play |first=Kevin |last=Seifert |website=ESPN.com |date=March 26, 2024 |access-date=March 26, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45252032/proposal-ban-tush-push-nfl-fails-two-votes-sources-say|title=Proposal to ban tush push in NFL fails by two votes, sources say |first=Brooke |last=Pryor |website=ESPN.com |date=May 21, 2025 |access-date=May 21, 2025}}</ref>