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One of the most common gripes with the signing of Devin Hester was that the NFL was considering moving kickoffs to the 40 yard line, which would essentially make returners useless on the vast majority of kickoffs. Hester and fans can breathe a sigh of relief today:
Good news for new Falcons return man Devin Hester that proposed measure of moving kickoffs to the 40-yard line apparently voted down.
— vaughn mcclure (@vxmcclure23) March 26, 2014
The current kickoff rules still aren't exactly friendly for Hester and his ilk, but #17 still did great work for the Chicago Bears last season under the current restrictions, ranking in the top ten in kick and punt yardage. Those extra five yards that he wouldn't have had with the rule change will give him a little breathing room to do his best work.
In other league news, the NFL will experiment with PATs from the 20 yard line in the first two weeks of preseason, plans to enforce taunting much more rigorously and will probably do other things that make fans derisively refer to the league as the "No Fun League." You can bank on that. Expanded playoffs may also be on the table, which I do not support.
Also, this happened:
Understatement of the century. RT @justRVB Mike Smith: "I think the Falcons could be a lot better at tackling"
— The Falcoholic (@TheFalcoholic) March 26, 2014