ALLEN PARK >> For the Detroit Lions in 2024, kickoffs were largely boring.

The Lions kicked off to opponents an NFL-high 110 times last season — that’s the result of having a ridiculously strong offense — and 85 of those attempts resulted in a touchback, also a league-high mark. First-year kicker Jake Bates, who put foot to leather on each of those boots, had a touchback rate of 79%, which ranked eighth among the 30 players who kicked off at least 45 times.

For two main reasons, Detroit’s touchback-heavy approach is likely to change in 2025. The first is a slight rule change, as the NFL is moving the starting point for an offense on a touchback from the 30-yard line to the 35. The average starting field position coming off a kickoff in the league last year was between the 29 and 30, according to Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp. Put simply: Kicking the ball short of the end zone in hopes of baiting the receiving team into a return wasn’t worth the gamble. But now that a difference of five-plus yards is on the table? Fipp intends to take advantage.

There’s also the continued development of Bates, who was spectacular with the Lions last season, drilling all but three of his 29 field goal attempts. Bates, coming off his standout UFL season, had much to learn when he was signed by the Lions last summer, and having him trying to pinpoint his kickoffs to certain portions of the field instead of easily launching the ball deep into the end zone was put on the back burner. The plan is for that to be different in 2025.

“That wasn’t necessarily his strength going into the season,” Fipp said in May. “We didn’t want to add a whole lot to his plate and (we figured) … the kick (strategies) may change throughout the course of the year, so now we’re saying, ‘OK, kick it like this. OK, kick it like that. OK, kick it like this.’ And then (also saying), ‘By the way, hey, let’s do a great job kicking field goals for the first time in the National Football League.’ Maybe not a great formula. We kind of stayed away from some of that to help him a little bit, to be honest with you.

“But he was out there today kicking his balls. He looks great doing it, so I’m excited.”

With a full season of data now available, Fipp is optimistic about the league’s dynamic kickoff, which was implemented in 2024 to limit injuries and encourage more returns. He wasn’t sure how teams were going to react to it last season, but he’s hopeful to begin really using it to give the Lions a field-position edge in 2025.

“He kicked that season (in the UFL), then he came back to our season, went through training camp, kicked that whole season. So, he had been kicking for a long, long time last year,” Fipp said. “I his leg will get a bit of a chance to rest.”