The Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event of the year for a reason.
Hundreds of millions of viewers — football fans or not — will tune in Sunday night for the 60th annual Big Game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, drawn by the promise of witnessing something spectacular: iconic, game-defining moments on the game’s biggest stage.
Few plays deliver that type of spectacle like a kickoff return for a touchdown.
A rarity on the gridiron, just 10 kickoffs have been returned for touchdowns in Super Bowl history. With odds set at +2200 on DraftKings Sportsbook, the question is simple: Will we see an 11th on Sunday night?
Will there be a kickoff returned for a touchdown?
Fittingly, the last player to return a kickoff for a touchdown in the Super Bowl was wearing navy and lime. Seahawks receiver Percy Harvin opened up the second half with an 87-yard house call in Seattle’s 43–8 annihilation of the Broncos at Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014.
Kickoff returns look drastically different 12 years later.
“Dynamic Kickoffs” were implemented ahead of the 2024 campaign in an effort to increase kick returns while reducing high-speed collisions. With additional tweaks ahead of this season, the NFL saw 74.5% of kickoffs returned in 2025 — more than double the 32.8% return rate in 2024.
However, the skyrocketed return rate hasn’t yielded additional trips to the end zone.
There were just six kickoff return touchdowns during the regular season, including one from both the Patriots and Seahawks. New England receiver Antonio Gibson brought one back to the end zone in Week 2 before Seattle trade-deadline acquisition Rashid Shaheed went coast-to-coast in Week 14.
While Gibson suffered a season-ending torn ACL not too long after, Shaheed actually continued his kick-return dominance in the playoffs. The Weber State product kick-started Seattle’s postseason push with a 95-yard house call on the opening kickoff against the 49ers.
Kickoff return touchdowns are already an anomaly. And considering that Seattle and New England have already combined for three this season (including playoffs), the likelihood of either team striking again on Sunday night would rival seeing snow in Santa Clara.
