NEW ORLEANS - The Vikings received potential incentive to retain free-agent kicker Ryan Longwell on Tuesday after owners voted 26-6 at the NFL meetings to move kickoffs from the 30- to the 35-yard line.

Coaches had expressed concerns about the sweeping changes suggested by the competition committee Monday. That group then made some tweaks. The initial suggestion was to do away with the two-man wedge and spot touchbacks at the 20-yard line instead of the 25. Both those ideas were dropped. Coverage players, however, now will be only allowed to get a 5-yard running start.

The NFL is focused on increasing safety and limiting the high-impact collisions that happen on kickoffs. Moving the ball up 5 yards will result in more touchbacks. Longwell, 36, has been an extremely reliable field-goal kicker for the Vikings since joining the team in 2006, but had only eight touchbacks in that time. That is sure to change.

Also impacted will be kickoff returners, such as the Vikings' Percy Harvin and Lorenzo Booker. Booker admitted in a text message that he wasn't crazy about the initial proposal. "At first I was worried!" Booker wrote. "I thought it would all but eliminate the kickoff return part of the game. Most kicks fall between the 5 and the goal line. This rule puts the average kick 2-3 yards deep, which under the current rules, is almost an automatic touchback."

However, Booker believes returners now will have an advantage because of the limited running start for coverage teams. "They won't be down as fast as I initially thought, which gives me time to make up for the 5 yards lost," Booker wrote.

Devin Hester, one of the NFL's top return men, ripped the rule change in an interview with ESPN 1000 in Chicago. "They're going too far. They're changing the whole fun of the game," Hester said. "Fans come out -- especially in Chicago -- to see returns."

Owners also voted 30-2 in favor of a change in the replay rule. The replay official will be responsible for confirming all scoring plays. The committee, however, dismissed the proposal to eliminate a third challenge for a coach if he was correct on his first two. The league tabled the alteration in the language designed to protect defenseless receivers.

What hurry? Vikings Pro Bowl running back Adrian Peterson will be entering the final season of his contract, but if he is feeling pressure to get a new contract done once the work stoppage concludes, he wasn't saying during an interview with an ESPN freelance writer while on a charity mission in Africa.

"I'm watching the way different organizations act and watching the way my organization acts," Peterson said. "I'm not worried about a contract. I've played hard and I think I've done pretty good. I thought maybe -- after a few years of doing good -- there'd be a deal by now. But whatever. That's OK. I'm not desperately concerned about a contract."

Coach Leslie Frazier expressed confidence the Vikings will keep Peterson.

"You'd like to get him under contract, and I'm sure and I know we're going to make every effort to get that done," Frazier said.

Etc. • Ex-Vikings tackle Ron Yary is suing former teammate Stu Voigt over some bad investments. In a federal lawsuit made public Tuesday, Yary and others allege Voigt fraudulently got friends to make high-risk investments between 2002 and 2007 by telling them there was no risk and that he would personally guarantee the money. Some plaintiffs say they lost their entire life savings, while Yary lost $100,000.

Staff writer Chip Scoggins and the Associated Press contributed to this notebook.