A busy NFL owners’ meetings saw rule changes, technological improvements, and two tabled proposals, including voting to abolish the tush push.
The NFL‘s annual spring owners’ meetings always break news and are generally when new rules for the following season are passed and implemented. This year, two key votes were delayed until May so there can be further discussion on their merits, including one controversial rule that helped the most recent Super Bowl champions. But other massive changes were announced, including a technological development decades in the making.
The NFL announced Tuesday that it would use Sony‘s Hawk-Eye technology to electronically measure first downs for the first time after using it on a trial basis during the 2024 preseason. Six 8K cameras to precisely track the ball’s position will replace a system of using chains to measure first downs that has been used throughout the league’s 100-plus-year history. Chain gangs will remain on the sidelines in 2025 as a backup measure, but critics call for the removal of a long-outdated method for determining something so critical to games’ outcomes were finally answered.
Three key rule changes — requiring approval from at least 24 of the league’s 32 teams — for the 2025 season improve upon recent adjustments to optimize play on the field.
For the first time ever during the regular season, both teams will possess the ball during overtime, a rule first implemented for the playoffs in 2022. Previously, the game would be over if the first team possessing the ball in OT scored a touchdown. While there was a push to expand overtime from 10 to 15 minutes because of this change, extra sessions will remain 10 minutes.
The league introduced replay assist in 2021, where designated officials can assist on-field officials on certain calls by electronically alerting a game official. NFL teams voted to expand the parameters of replay assistance this year to reverse flags for incorrect calls for facemask, horse collar, tripping, roughing or running-into-the-kicker, and defenseless player personal foul penalties. However, replay assist can not overturn penalties not called on the field.
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The last major rule change is an addendum to new dynamic kickoff rules first implemented during the 2024 season to increase kickoff returns and improve the play’s overall safety. Touchbacks will now move from the 30 to the 35-yard line to incentivize teams to kick the ball in play in the league’s designated landing zone. Kickoff return rates rose from 21.8% to 32.8% last year, a number the NFL would look to improve further.
A pair of rule-change proposals were tabled until May because while they wouldn’t have received the necessary 24 votes to pass right now, there was enough support to merit further discussion. The first was the Detroit Lions‘ plan to radically change postseason seeding, advancing the top seven records in each conference to the playoffs and ending the longstanding practice of awarding playoff spots to division winners. Outlawing the controversial tush push play popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles on their way to the Super Bowl LIX title reportedly has support from 16 teams, with another vote likely taking place in May.
Two other important scheduling announcements were also made this week. In a significant win for Amazon, the league passed a resolution where the league can flex Sunday matchups to Thursday Night Football with at least 21 days’ notice, a tool that can bring better matchups throughout the season to Prime Video. And since Christmas falls on a Thursday this year, the NFL will have a tripleheader on Dec. 25 with the Netflix doubleheader and the contractually obligated TNF stream.
With these meetings now in the rearview, the league can now shift its focus to the draft taking later this month, with the Tennessee Titans on the clock with the No. 1 overall pick.
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