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A loooong time ago, so long I can't remember when (when I played high school football), a kick could be returned from the end zone. The rule was changed, perhaps in the 70's or 80's, to read:
"If any free kick or scrimmage kick touches anything while the kicked ball is on or behind R's goal line or goal line plane, it becomes dead and is a touchback. Exception: Unless a drop kick or placekick from scrimmage, or a free kick following a fair catch or awarded fair catch touches an upright, crossbar or an R player and caroms through the goal."
In 1996, the rule was changed again to what we have now where the ball becomes dead as soon as it breaks the plane of the goal line. The rulesmakers were concerned that there was a period of time during a play when players of both teams were subject to unnecessary live-ball contact. In the comments on rule changes, "Previously, a kick ... became dead when it touched something ... after breaking the plane of R's goal line. In some cases, this would not happen until the ball touched the ground well beyond the end line!"
In other words, they wanted to eliminate the live-ball time frame when R could take cheap shots at K.
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