With owners around the NFL meeting the last few days, the most powerful folks in the NFL convened to talk about some rule changes heading into 2025 and decided to make a few changes.
Today, those NFL owners passed a rule change that will allow both teams to possess the ball in overtime periods during the regular season. The rule had been in place for the 2024 postseason, and will now apply to regular season games moving forward.
The initial proposal asked for a 15-minute overtime period, but that was amended down to 10 minutes by owners instead.
Another change coming is an expanded use of replay assist.
The new policy will allow replay review to take a look at hits on a defenseless player, facemasking and horsecollar penalties, as well as tripping and running into or roughing the kicker.
Those penalties can only be reviewed if officials throw a flag. When no flag is thrown, a coaches challenge cannot be used.
A few minor changes have been made to the dynamic kickoff that made its debut this past season. Touchbacks will now come out to the 35, when they'd previously come out to the 30. The goal with the change seems to be to allow for more returns, as the early returns on the dynamic kickoff have shown lower rates of injuries so the change is the logical next step in bringing returns back in the safest possible way.
At this time, no changes are being made to the new rule in 2024 that teams have to declare an onside kick before attempting one, a rule that is surely a painful thorn in the side to every special teams coordinator and aggressive head coach in the league.
Also notable, the Lions proposal to eliminate automatic first downs for defensive holding and illegal contact penalties failed to gain the traction needed, despite widespread public support.
The other topic that has garnered a lot of discussion among both coaches and fans was a ban of the tush-push play popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Packers formally proposed a ban of the controversial play, and the league has reportedly tabled discussions, citing a need for more data.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
