GREEN BAY, Wis. -- If Mike McCarthy is having a hard time deciding how to approach kickoffs this season with the new experimental touchback rule, the Green Bay Packers coach might want to consider kicker Mason Crosby's out-of-the-box idea.

“I have a suggestion: Why don’t we just onside kick every time?” Crosby joked during an interview on ESPN Milwaukee’s “Green & Gold Today” last week. “But I don’t know if that’s going to be the case.”

NFL owners voted in March to move touchbacks on kickoffs from the 20- to the 25-yard line on a one-year trial basis. McCarthy questioned the wisdom of the change afterward, saying, “Do you want the kicking game in the game or not in the game? If it’s in the game, let’s kick it and return it and let’s play the play. I just don’t like [it], let’s not reward a decision not to compete with 5 extra yards. If we’re going to compete, let’s compete. If we’re not going to compete, let’s not compete.”

It’s unclear how the change will impact how teams approach the kicks -- and the returns. The NFL moved kickoffs up 5 yards in 2011, correctly thinking it would increase the number of touchbacks and, in turn, improve safety by reducing the number high-speed collisions that occur on kickoff returns. Somewhat surprisingly, many teams had their returners bring the ball out even when the kickoff came down 5 yards or deeper in the end zone.

Now, by giving return teams an additional five yards on touchbacks, teams should have a greater incentive to take a knee instead of bringing the ball out. But the rule change could backfire if kicking teams try to counteract the touchback rule with “mortar kicks,” designed to have more hang time and come down near the goal line, with the hope of pinning the return team inside the 25.

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens. It’s just like the [33-yard] extra point. When they put an experimental rule like this into play, I’m not sure if both sides of it were completely thought out,” Crosby said. “Because it’s the [NFL’s] mindset that, if the ball’s in the end zone, most teams are going to think, ‘OK, we’ll take a knee and take it at the 25.’ But kickers are good enough, and coaches like to scheme. We won’t even kick it into the end zone and that’s not even an option.

“I think what that rule ends up doing is it makes that kickoff game plan meeting a little more in-depth as far as, what are our changeup kicks going to look like, at what point do we try to hit touchbacks? It’ll be interesting.”

Crosby said the Packers, who started organized team activity practices Monday, have spent more time this offseason discussing how to approach kickoffs. Last season, Crosby kicked off 80 times and finished with 41 touchbacks (a career-high 51.2 percent).

“But then there were a lot of returns from 5-, 6-plus yards deep, and obviously this year if I hit that ball, that’s not coming out. So what would my number have been then percentage-wise?” Crosby said. “We have a lot of ideas; ultimately, it’ll really come down to what Coach McCarthy feels is our best advantage to eliminate them from starting at the 25 every time. I think that’s probably going to be the game plan. We don’t want to kick the ball in the end zone every time.”

Crosby said he expects McCarthy and special-teams coordinator Ron Zook to take everything into account -- opponent tendencies, quality of the returner -- before deciding on a plan of action each week.

Then again, that decision could be made for them later in the season.

“I think ultimately, I have to remind you, we do play in Green Bay, Wisconsin,” Crosby said with a laugh. “And December in Green Bay decides a lot of that for us. So whenever I hit that 4-second hang-time kick to the goal line, I can say it was an on-purpose popup kick instead of me trying to kick it out of the end zone.”