Five yards. We're talking about five yards. In reality, it's the mere potential of five extra yards on a play that teams, on average, face five times a game. But that statistical blink has not slowed near-unanimous dissension among NFL coaches and place-kickers to the league's latest tweak of the kickoff.

During a tour of training camps this month, I encountered large-scale agreement that the decision to move touchbacks from the 20- to the 25-yard line will backfire. Coaches claim they will subvert it by directing place-kickers to kick shorter, thereby increasing the number of returns -- and, presumably, injuries -- rather than reduce them. And in a rare demonstration of cross-team solidarity, they have already presented league officials with a radical alternative for 2017.

"I'm not a rule maker but I don't see this staying in real long," Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. "I think it's going to start causing a lot of strategy things, as far as pop-up kicks, and I don't think they're going to get achieved what they thought they were going to get achieved with it."

Zimmer was not alone. Believe me.

"The goal is misappropriated," Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "If you're trying to get the kickoff out of the game, just take it out. I don't like the whole premise at all, as far fewer returns, which will make the game less exciting. Maybe that's their goal, to make it be less exciting. If you want to make it safer, I think there are better ways to look at that. We just have to be smart about it."

Said Washington Redskins special teams coach Ben Kotwica: "What's the goal? I don't know if that will end up being what happens."

And Redskins place-kicker Dustin Hopkins: "It's an interesting strategy. I don't know how many special teams guys they had in their meeting to change this."

Blair Walsh practices kicking off during the Vikings training camp on July 30. Andy Clayton-King/AP Photo

I remain skeptical that coaches will employ shorter kickoffs as much as they say they will, but I do expect them to experiment now that the preseason is underway. So while we have a moment, let's examine the issues involved, how teams say they will respond and then detail an alternative proposed during a conference call of special teams coaches this spring.

Fewer returns = fewer injuries?

The kickoff return has been shrinking from the NFL landscape since a 2011 rule that moved the kickoff from the 30- to the 35-yard line. Today's strong-legged kickers can reach the end zone with ease, and touchbacks have increased from 16.4 percent of all kickoffs in 2010 to 56 percent last season.

Still, competition committee chairman and Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay acknowledged this spring that injury totals on returns still increased from 2014 to 2015. Kickoff returns already were responsible for injury rates that are "higher than in other facets of the game," according to NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino, who works closely with the competition committee on rules development.

"The competition committee determined that if we can continue to reduce the number of kickoff returns," Blandino said, "it will reduce the number of injuries. So that's the logic behind it."

If all else stayed equal from last season -- that 56 percent of kickoffs lead to possessions starting at the 25-yard line instead of the 20 -- the impact on field position would be worth an additional .30 expected points per game, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.

Scoring Drives Pct From 20- and 25-Yd Lines Year Scores/Drive from 25 Scores/Drive from 20 2015 31.2 30.7 2014 30.2 28 2013 31.9 27.5 2012 34.6 28.1 2011 25.9 25.8 2010 27.8 24.8 Average 30.3 27.8 Source: ESPN Stats & Information

Last season, as the chart shows, there was less than a 1 percent difference between the percentage of scoring drives that began at the 25 versus the 20. Those figures can fluctuate from year to year, so it's worth noting that the difference has been 2.5 percent since the start of the 2010 season.

On-field reaction

Most NFL coaches are aware of those numbers and probably understand their measured impact on the outcome of games. But they remain fanatical about field position and say they will not cede those extra five yards if they can avoid it.

"We're not just going to just put it at the 25," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. "If we can pooch it to the 1, and keep it inside the 20, that's 7 or 8 yards there. That's important in pro football, that field position. You play the field position game in pro football, and if you can back a team up, you're going to try it."

The obvious antidote is intentionally short kickoffs, usually known as "pop-up" or "mortar" kicks. They sound simple; the kicker adjusts his approach to scoop the ball upward rather than drive it out. The idea is that coverage teams will have time to get downfield and quickly tackle a returner who fields the ball short of the goal line. If all goes well, you pin opponents well inside the 25.

But life does not always go well, of course, and shorter kickoffs carry the kind of risk that many NFL coaches shun once they see a negative consequence play out in front of them.

The biggest worry, Harbaugh said, is the ball going out of bounds. Those instances will lead to what is in essence a 15-yard penalty, placing the ball at the 40 rather than the 25 via touchback.

"It's not too hard to get it over there," Harbaugh said, "but when it hits the ground, you can't control which way it bounces. Will [coaches] be OK with the risk of the ball going to the 40? That's a good question. We'll see."

And "it's definitely going to happen," said Redskins punter Tress Way, who has kicked off in college and in the NFL. "Definitely. You're going to see balls going out of bounds. The kickers in this league are incredible at what they do, but you have to think of all the conditions involved and understand that all it takes is an inch. If you're off an inch on where you put your foot on the ball, it changes the entire trajectory."

Weather conditions will play a significant role as well, said Philadelphia Eagles place-kicker Caleb Sturgis.

"On a day with little wind," Sturgis said, "most of the guys in the NFL can put a ball just about anywhere they want to. If you add some conditions into it, and you add a dynamic returner into it, and things get a whole lot harder."

Even the slightest mistake in distance could scuttle the intent. In feedback sessions with Blandino, some coaches said they would instruct returners to take a touchback on kicks two or three yards into the end zone this season when, in previous years, they would have allowed them to run it out.

The best way to achieve maximum consistency, said New York Giants place-kicker Josh Brown, is to shorten the approach to three steps. "That's how you get that height you're looking for to keep it inside the 20."

The quicker approach is an early tipoff to returners that a pop-up kick is on the way. That's why the preseason trial-and-error period will be so important, said Eagles coach Doug Pederson.

"You're going to see all kinds of experiments with different kicks," Pederson said. "But I also like the potential of eliminating all those returns when the ball is, say, 5 yards or more deep in the end zone. Sometimes that is simpler."

In the end, strategy will depend on the skill of the returner and kicker, weather conditions and the state of coverage teams. Zimmer, for instance, is daring teams to give returner Cordarrelle Patterson -- who led regular NFL returners last season with a 31.8-yard average -- additional opportunities. Harbaugh was more realistic.

"Good kickoff teams will kick it shorter," he said, "and the bad kickoff teams will kick it into the end zone."

An alternative

Most football people, however, aren't compelled by either scenario. They don't want to see the vast majority of kickoffs downed for touchbacks, nor are they excited by coverage teams surrounding a returner after a 9-yard gain to the 17-yard line. And they realize that without some expert direction, the NFL is more likely than not going to eliminate the play entirely rather than continue to tweak its rules.

So on an otherwise quiet offseason day this spring, more than 30 special teams coaches gathered on a conference call with Blandino. With McKay listening in, the coaches insisted they could promote a formation and set of rules that would satisfy all concerns. They could equalize the kickoff's safety level with the rest of the game while also providing ample opportunities for entertainment, strategy and game-changing plays. The most common suggestion was an approach originally devised by longtime New York Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff and current Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg.

Some NFL coaches are suggesting an alternative for 2017 on kickoffs, where teams could user a punter on kickoffs to keep the ball in play and minimize the threat of injuries. AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

As explained in the video at the top of this story, the formation would require the returning team to put eight men between the 45-yard lines. One returner would be stationed in the end zone, with two others on either side of him to defend against directional kicks. The kicking team, meanwhile, would be prohibited from getting a running start before the kick. (Currently they are allowed a 5-yard run-up.)

"Really, it becomes almost like a punt now," Vikings special teams coordinator Mike Priefer said. "You're going to take out those big collisions. It's a really good way to effectively keep the play in and reduce the injuries they're talking about."

Harbaugh, a longtime special teams coach before the Ravens hired him, said he would probably use his punter rather than the place-kicker in those situations.

"That's going to create a little more hang time," Harbaugh said. "And then you've basically got guys dropping back and walling people off instead of setting up, coming back and having these big collisions. It could be safe and still really exciting, if they're interested."

Indeed, the suspicion among many on-field personnel is that league owners and executives know the injury history of the kickoff and can't reconcile it with their obligation to portray a league committed to player safety. They wonder if, in essence, the die is already cast.

"I'm just an advocate of not going from A to Z," Kotwica said. "So let's work on B, C and D before we get all the way to Z and say we're just going to spot the ball at the 20 after scores. There are ways to make this a very viable play and still make it safe."

Although the final decision won't be his, Blandino came away impressed.

"In my best estimation right now," he said, "I think we'll still have the kickoff [in five years]. It's a big part of the game. It's an exciting play, and I think that some of the things that we've done will help -- meeting with the special teams coaches and meeting with the competition committee just to say, there are some tweaks we can make to the play without completely compromising the integrity of the play, just to continue to protect our players."

Nothing can change the parameters for 2016, however. The NFL has set up the kickoff to be less exciting, via more touchbacks or more short returns, than at any time in recent memory. One way or the other, the smart money says it'll go back to the drawing board this winter.