NFL records highest kickoff return yardage through four weeks

Four weeks into the 2026 NFL season, the league has recorded a record-breaking 13,409 kickoff return yards, the highest total through the first four weeks in league history. This increase in yardage is attributed to the “dynamic kickoff” rules, which have increased the frequency of returns to an average of 4.0 per contest, compared to 1.7 returns per game in 2024.

Despite the surge in total return yards and frequency, there have been zero kickoff return touchdowns recorded so far this season. This continues a downward trend in scoring plays on kickoffs; for comparison, there were six kickoff return touchdowns during the 2025 season and seven in 2024. In the early 2000s, the league averaged at least a dozen such touchdowns annually.

Individual leaders include Dylan Laube of the Las Vegas Raiders, who leads in return average with 33.4 yards, and Myles Price of the Minnesota Vikings, who leads the league in total return yards with 423.