Why Can’t You Advance an Onside Kick in Football? Or Can You?

While football doesn’t have as many head-scratching rules as baseball, there are still some things that make you wonder. And no, we aren’t getting into whether something is a catch or not, what even is pass interference, or the tuck rule.

Instead, it’s the onside kick, and looking at whether or not the ball can be advanced when recovered from one of football’s most exciting plays.

Can You Advance an Onside Kick in Football?

You cannot advance an onside kick in football according to article 4 “catch or recovery of a free kick” which states “The ball is dead if: it is caught or recovered by a player of the kicking team. If the catch or recovery is legal, the ball belongs to the kicking team at the dead-ball spot.”

While the rule doesn’t mention the onside kick specifically, the onside kick falls into the category of “free kick” where “A free kick is a kickoff or safety kick that puts the ball in play to start a free kick down. It must be made from any point on the kicking (offensive) team’s restraining line and between the inbounds lines.”

All that said, and hence why you’re probably here, the rule is met with a lot of confusion. Most of it probably stems from the fact that many disagree with it, or simply don’t understand the rule at all.

Here is a look at an onside kick recovered by Khalil Herbert of the Chicago Bears last season. As you can see, even with the ball tipping off the receiving Packers, the ball cannot be advanced. This is a similar rule as a muffed punt.

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Thus, onside kick or not, even on a traditional kickoff to start the game, half or after a score, if the recovery is “legal” and pass the restraining line – which is 10 yards in advance of the kicking team’s restraining line, then the kicking team gets the ball at the spot.

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What’s interesting is that in that same game, the Bears must have also recovered a muffed punt, in which they probably could have advanced had the rules not stopped them from doing so. I don’t recall the game myself, but just came across this tweet:

All this said, at this point you’re probably thinking, I know I’ve seen the kicking team advance the ball and even score on a kickoff, in which case I’d say you’re probably right, but maybe only half-right. It all comes down to when the kick is still a “kick” and/or when it turns into a carried ball that is fumbled.

Why Can’t You Advance an Onside Kick?

You cannot advance an onside kick because at no point during that time does the receiving team take possession of the ball. That said, once the receiving team establishes possession and then proceeds to fumble the ball, then the kicking team can recover and advance the ball.

You can see that happening here. Note where the official spots the ball on the fumble return: