Football: free kick after safety

Factual Questions
1

  1. After a team gets a safety scored upon them, do they have the option to kickoff instead of punting, or must they punt?

  2. If they do have the option to kickoff, why do teams always elect to punt? Is it because a punt can be covered better because of the greater hang time?

2

I’ve never seen a punt after a safety. Always kick-offs. What league are you watching?

3

Yep - a free kick is exactly that - you can kick off from placement or you can punt. I think you’re correct in that punting tends to be more accurate, and may permit better coverage. And that’s why they usually punt in those situations. Another little known fact of football is that after a fair catch, you may put the ball in play with a free kick from placement. In other words, it can not be defended. If someone catches a fair catch inside the 40, for example, it’s possible, but you rarely see it, for that team to try to score from that point at that time with a field goal attempt. I saw it a few years ago - don’t remember the situation.

4

In college football, you can kickoff from a tee or punt after a safety. In the NFL, you can’t use a tee so they almost always punt. In high school football, they almost always kickoff since the punters invariably stink.

The free kick field goal attempt after a fair catch is only an NFL rule. In the NFL you can attempt it after any successfully caught fair catch. If you let the kick hit the ground, you don’t get the option.

I’ve seen it once. It will happen at the end of first halfs most frequently. They are low risk kicks because the defense can’t try to block the attempt.