Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday the NFL's competition committee would consider in the offseason replacing the kickoff. The league previously had moved the kickoff from the 30- to 35-yard line to cut down on violent collisions.

Goodell and Rich McKay, the head of the league's competition committee, discussed an idea brought up by Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano in which a team, instead of kicking off, would get the ball at its own 30-yard line in a fourth-and-15 situation. The team then would punt the ball away or, to replace an onside kick, could go for it and, if it failed to get a first down, the opposing squad would start with great field position.

"The fact is, it's a much different end of the play," Goodell said during the meeting, according to Time magazine.

Speaking about the potential change before Thursday night's Raiders-Broncos game in Oakland, Calif., the commissioner said, "I thought it was an interesting idea. The committee will look at it."

Schiano discussed his idea earlier this season in an ESPN The Magazine story. Schiano, who was the coach at Rutgers in 2010 when Eric LeGrand was paralyzed on a kickoff, has seen first-hand how the play can adversely affect the safety of players.

LeGrand broke two vertebrae and suffered a serious spinal cord injury in October 2010 during a kickoff return against Army. He became an inspiration to his college teammates, eventually being able to stand upright with the help of a metal frame.

Schiano told ESPN The Magazine in September that he believed kickoffs eventually would be eliminated from pro football.