How the Patriots are handling the still-changing new NFL kickoff rules

At this point, everybody should know there will be new NFL kickoff rules this year. However, not everybody knows what the new NFL kickoff rules will be - including the NFL.

Early on in this year's training camp, Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo was asked about handling the new kickoff rules. He shared that it was an ongoing process, and that the league was still adjusting and ironing out the details of the new setup at that time.

Fast forward to Monday, when Patriots special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer spoke to reporters for the first time since the start of camp. Springer was asked if that process with the league was still going on.

It turns out not only is the league still tinkering with the kickoff, but will continue to do so. That process will carry through the start of the regular season.

"They [the NFL] are going to make changes up to Week 4. So it's ever evolving for us," Springer shared. "Lot of fun."

Exactly what those changes are is unknown. Most of it is probably things on the margins, or new potential situations teams or the league are discovering that weren't covered in the initial drafting of the rules.

It could be bigger changes as well though. For instance, if one team finds a loophole early in the season, the league could still have a chance to close it. The league could also entice teams to make kickoffs playable if there are too many touchbacks early on, by changing the spot for touchbacks (currently at the 30-yard line, unless the ball lands in play first in which case it's the 20).

As for where the changes come from, Springer says that coaches around the league will have some input. "We meet as a special teams committee, like all the specialty coaches and talk about things that we don't like or what we do like, and then they bring that to the officials," he explained on Monday.

With rules changes still possible, Springer says the Patriots are approaching preparing for the new kickoff as best they can each day.

"We are taking it day by day. I think for all of us, it's like such a new implementation of rules, philosophies, ways of thinking," he said on Monday. "Sometimes we do practice and something else comes up that we didn't really think about or new rule that we really didn't think about, so I think that's just a day by day process. Now I'm enjoying it, because it's making us be very creative right now and you have to really think outside the box."

"Everyone's got to do it too. It's not just me," Springer added. "So it's a challenge, but it's a fun challenge."

In their first game with the new NFL kickoff rules on Thursday, the Patriots put all four of their kickoffs in play. They allowed an average of 25 yards per return, with the Panthers average starting field position on those four drives ending up on their own 30 yard line. They returned both kickoffs from the Panthers, one for 24 yards and another for 20.