The NFL is in the middle of conducting some of its biggest business at the league’s annual owners meeting. In the past this was a pretty boring affair with only small rule tweaks about uniforms or revenue sharing, but in recent years we’ve seen significant changes to football that has altered the game.
This year the focus has been on whether or not the league will ban the “Tush Push,” the Eagles iconic play which was adopted to great success by the Buffalo Bills in 2024. However, while that debate is ongoing we do have news of several rule changes coming out of the meetings.
Banning the Tush Push: TABLED
The most-impactful rule change has been kicked down the road. Dianna Russini of The Athletic first reported that owners have chosen to stop discussing whether or not the play should be banned, tabling the debate.
A decision on the play could be made as soon as May 20. This is when the league reconvenes at its Spring meeting to discuss any outstanding issues, or new business which arose since they last met.
Changes to overtime: PASSED
Both teams will now have an opportunity to possess the ball in overt ime during the regular season, similar to the playoffs. The previous rule would cause the game to end if a team scored a touchdown on the opening possession. Now both teams will have the opportunity to score.
While this part of the rule passed, owners decided not to extend the regular season overtime period to 15 minutes, which was under discussion. We’ll need to see how this plays out, but theoretically it could lead to a lot more games ending in a tie given that realistically a 10 minute period would likely only allow for each team to have one possession.
Expanded replay assistant: PASSED
The wording of this proposed rule change was very confusing, and part of that was by design.
By Competition Committee; amends Rule 15, to expand Instant Replay’s ability to advise the on-field officials on specific, objective aspects of a play and/or to address game administration issues when clear and obvious video evidence is present.
This is a carefully-worded rule basically designed not to make referees angry. Essentially what it’s saying is that Instant Replay officials can pipe in and point things out which refs on the field clearly missed in review situations. While the final ruling is still in the hands of the lead official, it should theoretically result in more corrections on the field.
The new ruling only applies to plays where a flag was thrown on the play. So this will not allow instant replay to inform officials about facemasks or any other penalty which was missed on the field and play continues.
Change to kickoffs: PASSED
Once again the NFL is trying to fix kickoffs, this time by reducing the number of touchbacks. Last year we saw the league adopt the new XFL-style kickoff in an effort to promote player safety, but this had an unintended effect where essentially no team bothered to keep the ball in bounds at all — electing to take a touchdback on almost every kickoff.
Now a touchback on a kickoff will result in the ball being placed at the 35-yard line. As a result kickers will need to try and loft kicks, or short kick in an effort to have the ball be returned — rather than giving up a massive gain on a touchback.
We’ll see to see how this plays out as well. It remains to be seen in the average return length will take the ball past the 35-yard line or not. If that happens then we’ll see teams elect to take the touchback anyway, and put more pressure on their defense.
Roster changes: PASSED
Teams may now designate two cut players to return to the active roster at the final cut down to 53. This is for injured players, and clears up awkwardness where players needed to be on the active roster for at least one day before being able to return. This essentially means two additional players can earn initial rosters spots, without being released and then re-signed.
Playoff teams may now designate two additional players as Designate to Return (DTR), bring the total number to 10 (up from eight).
Point differential is now the third tiebreaker when determining how players can be claimed off waivers.
Free agency changes: PASSED
This is the biggest off-field element of the new rule changes. It allows for teams to conduct meeting with players over Zoom (which is fairly minor), but much more importantly allows teams to schedule meetings with free agents before the Legal Tampering Period begins.
These meetings can be scheduled before the league year opens, which means we could see top free agents begin to tip their hands as soon as the Super Bowl is over. Yes, this means the league year is going to feel even longer, and there’s going to be more data to track.
