Each year, the NFL holds owners’ meetings before a new season starts. They are designed to get all 32 franchises together in person to discuss high priority matters and rules change proposals, bylaws and resolutions. (All proposals must be approved by 75% (or) 24 clubs to be adopted.)
The first of these meetings typically occurs about six weeks after the end of the prior season. It is considered the main event (called the NFL Annual Meeting). This year, it took place in Palm Beach, FL from March 30 to April 1.
A second owners’ meeting was held from May 20-21 in Minneapolis to debate proposed rule changes and other key issues that weren’t resolved in March.
Some of the key topics that were hashed out during these meetings and that stuck out to me include the following (in no particular order):
OVERTIME CHANGES
The league passed a proposal that will “align” the regular season overtime rules with the postseason rule giving each team a chance to possess the ball “regardless of the outcome of the first possession”.
Previously, whichever team received the opening kickoff in OT and scored a touchdown on its initial possession would win the game. Now both teams will get the ball regardless of what happens during the first possession.
Hallelujah. I have long disliked this rule, particular because of the dreaded coin toss to start OT. Basically, whichever team was lucky enough to win the toss and elect to receive the ball (duh) had the ultimate advantage handed to them in the blink of an eye.
Like I pointed out in 2016, it seems hard to believe that the league allowed luck to become the deciding factor after a long, hard-fought game.
Just think of the tough grind players put themselves through for this sport along with their sacrifices- only for serendipity to decide who gets the winning edge?
I thank the Eagles for bringing about this winning proposal…
THE CHAIN GANG IS BEING REPLACED
Remember that embarrassing moment in 2017 during a Raiders-Cowboys game when head referee Gene Steratore used an index card to determine a first down?
Well, the league will finally enter the 21st Century this season as it plans to implement the use of Sony’s Hawk-Eye virtual measurement system as the primary method for measuring first-down calls in every NFL game this coming season. BUT, it comes with a caveat…
Operated by officials in NY, all 30 NFL stadiums and international venues will be equipped with six 8K cameras that will track the position of each football, and the results will be integrated with the league’s current replay system. The traditional chain crew will still be on hand, but only as a backup.
While this is a step in the right direction, unfortunately human officials will continue to spot the balls at the end of each play. The new technology will only assist in determining lines of gain that are too close to call.
According to a January 2025 Yahoo article, the NFL does not yet have the means to implement automatic ball-spotting because of two main issues.
One is that Hawk-Eye relies on “unobstructed views of the ball” (footballs often disappear into a pile of players’ bodies).
Two, the current nature of officiating on many plays requires knowledge of where the ball is in relation to the ball-carrier’s body parts. For example, “a player’s knee, forearm or other body part [when it] touches the ground or when officials rule a play dead.” Essentially, the technology would need to detect where every body part of the ball-carrier is on every play.
These two factors are big hurdles, but not insurmountable in this golden age of advanced technology- especially with the amount of revenue the league generates each year.
The NFL is currently the richest sports league in the world. So, there is an abundance of funds that could be used towards finding technology that could spot a football in a pile of players while simulataneously determining whether or not a player’s knee is down on the field.
Seriously, if people are parallel parking rockets precisely on target, the NFL can figure this out…
It’s obvious that human error on first-down calls isn’t foremost on owner’s minds right now. But, sooner or later, this issue will rear its ugly head. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen during a crucial game that could determine who goes to the big show. Then again, that may be what it takes to get their immediate attention to this matter.
REPLAY ASSIST TO EXPAND
In March, NFL owners approved the Competition Committee’s Proposal to expand replay assist to cover more plays in 2025. The on-site replay official will now be permitted to reverse flags that are thrown for:
- Hits to defenseless players;
- Fouls for face mask;
- Horse collar;
- Tripping; and
- Running into/roughing the kicker.
This change will only pertain to reversal of flags and will not open the door for new flags to be thrown, i.e.: if the evidence reveals an uncalled face-mask penalty, etc.
Personally, I would have liked roughing the passer and unnecessary roughness penalties against the QB expanded for replay assist. Currently, these calls can be reviewed, but only if there’s clear evidence that the defender had NO contact with the head and neck area.
Of course, the goal is to keep the QB protected and I agree. But it does seem like some QBs are taking advantage of their potential to draw penalties by engaging in a bit of flopping. (I see you Patrick Mahomes… and Josh Allen…)
Kickers and punters are also notorious for flopping. Like QBs, they are fully aware of the rules designed to protect them. Current NFL rules state that if a defender contacts the kicking leg while still in the air, or if they slide into or contact the kicker/punter when their feet are on the ground, a 15-yard penalty and automatic first down could be assessed. At least the NFL made these plays reversable for the 2025 season.
Floppers have been warned!
DYNAMIC KICKOFF IS HERE TO STAY
If you didn’t like the NFL’s “Dynamic Kickoff” sequence introduced last year, I have bad news for you: In March, the owners approved the rule making this “new form of free kick play” permanent except for one tweak: touchbacks will now be placed at the 35-yard line.
In the simplest of terms, the rule was designed to increase kickoff returns (by making it harder for the receiving team to take a touchback) and reduce injury by realigning where the players are on the field during kickoff. A “landing zone” was introduced (between the returning team’s 20 and one-yard line) and kickers now deliver kickoffs from their own 30-yard line. Kicks ending up outside this zone or out of bounds result in receiving teams starting with the ball on their 40-yard line.
Apparently, the results from the first year of this experiment did what they were designed to do. The league announced in January that the Dynamic Kickoff led to better starting field positions, more TDs, more returns past the 40-yard line (57% increase) & a lower injury rate.
“The play was a tremendous success,” Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi said in April who helped to design the sequence. “The injury rates were much, much lower. Obviously, the space and the speed of the play were down from what we’re all used to and so, the play was a tremendous success. That’s why we felt the time was now to move the touchback back to the 35, to go back to the original formation that we had proposed.”
Thus – the tweak: Touchbacks were marked at the 30-yard line last season. For 2025, they will be moved to the 35-yard line. The hope is that teams will kick the ball into the landing zone more and force a return, rather than just allow the receiving team to start with better field position from a touchback.
Rizzi seemed positive it’ll work, “I think the only thing that we all have to understand is that we’re going to see a lot more kickoff returns now in the NFL, like most of us did. When I was growing up, I saw a touchback rate of 15-25 percent… and we feel like that’s going to be the case again.”
Personally, I don’t dislike the Dynamic Kickoff like some other fans do. Yes, it seems complicated and different than what we have been used to our whole lives. But with the new touchback placement, it should encourage more returns which will add more entertainment to games. Teams will also have had more experience with the play(s) and should adjust better to start the new season.
ONSIDE KICK RULES MODIFIED
In May, NFL owners voted in favor of revising the onside kick rule, allowing for teams to declare an onside kick at any point during a game, if they are trailing.
In 2024, with the onset of the new Dynamic Kickoff Rules, regulations for the onside kick strategy were heavily modified. All “surprise” onside kicks were eliminated, and trailing teams could only declare the play in the fourth quarter.
In 2025, the NFL brought back the potential for onside kicks to occur at any time during a game, but undeclared onside kicks remain prohibited. The primary rule that the ball must travel at least 10 yards before the kicking team can recover it also remains.
So, while the league has given some life back to the onside kick play, it’s a shame that they are keeping the element of surprise out. It was a fun play for audiences to be a part of, and teams never knew when they were coming. But having to announce the intent of using the play just takes most of the fun out of it.
Of course, the whole reason for modifying the play has been for safety and that is a good thing. But, if they plan to keep neutering this onside play that traditionally had low success rates to begin with, what’s the purpose of keeping it around? Just to tease audiences?
NO BAN ON “TUSH PUSH” PLAY
In May’s meeting, NFL owners discussed the proposal brought by the Green Bay Packers to ban the so-called “Tush Push” play. Happily, the proposal failed. The Packers needed 24 votes for it to pass but the final tally was 22 – 10.
The majority of teams who voted for the ban included NFC teams that are direct competitors to the Eagles. Makes sense since Philly popularized the glorified quarterback sneak play in 2022 and since then, no team has come close the success they have seen running the play.
Per CBS Sports Research, the Eagles have the most rushing attempts (92) and rushing touchdowns (8) in the NFL on QB sneaks and the “Tush Push” since 2022 (including playoffs). They also have a (91.3%) conversion.
That is far and away the most attempts and a super high conversion rate for the play in the league. The next closest teams in attempts were the 49ers (33 rush attempts – 90% conversion) and Cowboys (25 rush attempts – 92% conversion).
Incidentally, no conclusive evidence was produced in the May meeting to show that the play is dangerous in any way. Yet almost 69% of the league just voted to ban it.
Feels like sour grapes to me.
The team that just crushed the Chiefs in the Super Bowl have quite simply figured out how to master the process of offensive linemen pushing their QB forward in short yardage situations.
Yet, some think it’s “bad for the game”. Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy used those exact words after his team was eliminated by the Eagles in the playoffs last year and had no injury data to back it up.
Just because one team has so efficiently implemented a play doesn’t make it bad for the entire sport. The Tush Push is available to every team (including the Packers). So, instead of complaining, why doesn’t Green Bay (or the other 22 teams that voted for the play’s elimination) just find a way to excel at it too?
The most legit debate for a ban on the Tush Push should stem from the notion that the play aids the runner. Apparently, on the eve of the Tush Push ban vote, the Packers amended their proposal to focus on just that idea. They suggested that offensive players “assisting the runner… in any direction at any time” should be banned.
Prior to 2005, the Tush Push would have indeed been illegal. NFL rules had specifically banned offensive players from “directly aiding a runner in any way” regardless of pushing or pulling. But the league allowed pushing as it was deemed “too difficult to legislate” while it prohibited the act of pulling ball carriers by teammates.
“What the league found was so difficult was you never were sure who was pushing who,” said Mike Pereira, the former NFL director of officials who became the rules analyst for Fox. “So you’re not necessarily pushing the runner. You could be pushing someone else that’s in contact with the runner. So it became really too difficult to officiate. Therefore, we just said, ‘OK, it’s legal to push.’ ” (Per the LA Times.)
For the 2025 season, Eagles fans can rejoice that their beloved “Brotherly Shove” is at their team’s disposal. But, they shouldn’t get too excited. The buzz around the league is that this controversial issue will likely be revisited again soon. Seems NFL owners are hell-bent at getting this play removed from the Eagles playbook?
LIONS ATTEMPTED TO CHANGE PLAYOFF SEEDING FORMAT
Coming into the May meeting, the Detroit Lions had originally proposed a bylaw to change playoff seedings based on overall record – not division standings as the current rules dictate. Per this proposal, there would still be 7 teams from each conference in the playoffs, but seeding would be in order according to winning percentage, regardless of where teams finished in their respective division.
About a week before the May meeting, the Lions nixed that first proposal and submitted a different version. This one suggested re-seeding in the second round of the playoffs based on overall records. So, the first-round of the playoffs would remain intact and division winners would get home-field advantage in the Wild Card round. But, after the first-round ends, teams would be re-seeded by their overall records in the regular season.
Thus, if a Wild Card team advanced and had a better record than the remaining division winners, they would assume the higher seed in the playoffs going forward.
Interestingly, just before the May meeting got started, the Lions withdrew their proposal outright, citing lack of support.
Can I get another hallelujah?
I didn’t like either of those proposals. But I have a bigger problem with the first one because it would have rendered division wins meaningless.
It would also take away the big benefit of home-field advantage for division winners in the first round. That is a major incentive to play competitively down the stretch against a division rival.
Handing out seeds based on overall performances would undermine the whole reason for having divisions in the first place…
There are several arguments in favor of reseeding that do carry some merit. They include: fairness for teams in super competitive divisions, making sure the best teams make the playoffs, and helping late season games get more competitive, which ultimately equates to more revenue.
But I guess I’m a traditionalist at heart. I like the power that a division winner carries in the post season. Because that’s how it’s always been done.
I agree with Steelers HC Mike Tomlin when he said in March, “I’m a division purist. I love the rivalries that is division play. I love the structure of our scheduling that highlights it. I think the division winners should get a home playoff game.”
In the very least, the Lions got the public conversation started which is a big first step in the process for making modifications to the playoff picture.
Any changes will take some convincing for fans (like me) who like the current playoff picture just the way it is.
TO REVIEW THE NFL’S RULES AND UPDATES, SEE THE LEAGUE’S FOOTBALL OPERATIONS WEBSITE.