INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL is contemplating altering additional time guidelines within the common season to lower the benefit for groups that win the coin toss.
“It’s time to rethink the overtime rule,” league govt Troy Vincent stated Wednesday on the NFL scouting mix.
Vincent stated the competitors committee agrees additional time guidelines should be addressed. Receiving the ball first has grow to be extra of a bonus than earlier than 2011, when additional time was sudden demise. Receiving groups received 56.8% of additional time video games from 2017-24, up from 55.4% from 2001-11.
Each groups at the moment get a chance to own the ball in additional time except a landing is scored on the primary possession.
The principles are totally different within the playoffs. Each groups get an opportunity to have a possession even when the offense scores a landing on the opening drive. That postseason change got here after Buffalo’s loss to Kansas Metropolis in a divisional-round sport in January 2022.
Making the additional time guidelines the identical within the common season is a potential answer, together with extending the interval to fifteen minutes.
Amongst different adjustments, the NFL plans to make use of its digital measuring system to find out first downs in 2025. This wouldn’t remove the officers who manually spot the ball and use chains to mark the road to achieve. The optimum monitoring system notifies officiating immediately if a primary down was gained after the ball is noticed by hand.
“We used this in the background last season,” stated Kimberly Fields, the NFL’s senior vp of soccer operations. “The goal for 2025 is to continue to train our techs, who are the ones who will be utilizing the technology, finalizing all of our officiating processes and procedures around virtual measurements and testing the graphics for the broadcast and in-stadium, so fans in the stadium and fans watching on television can see what we’re doing. The chain crew will still be there as backup.”
Additionally, the competitors committee will overview enlargement of the replay help to incorporate extra fouls, however Vincent stated “there was no appetite” from the committee to make use of video replay to throw a flag.
A group might nonetheless suggest a rule change to do this. For now, if officers miss an apparent penalty similar to a facemask, replay help can’t throw a flag.
Replay help was utilized in 2024 to choose up flags thrown for roughing the passer (contact with head/neck), pointless roughness (runner out of bounds), intentional grounding and ineligible participant downfield.
Growth into account for 2025 would come with roughing the passer (hit under the knee), pointless roughness (defenseless receiver/participant), facemask (contact of hand with facemask), tripping, unlawful crackback block and horse-collar deal with, amongst others.
Vincent stated the league desires to discover a option to convey again onside kicks whereas additionally putting in a everlasting kickoff rule after a one-year trial with what’s known as the dynamic kickoff.
The trial made kickoffs extra thrilling with larger price of returns. Vincent stated he anticipates the spot of the touchback on kickoffs being moved from the 30- to the 35-yard line.
However the adjustments impacted the onside kick. Groups had been 3 for 50, the bottom restoration price since 2001.
“Universal consensus that we know we need to do something with this play,” Vincent stated.
He added there wasn’t a lot dialog round a fourth-and-long choice to preserve possession, although these discussions might happen subsequent month.
The tush push play mastered by the Tremendous Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles has been a sizzling subject this week as a result of the Inexperienced Bay Packers proposed banning it. Some opponents have argued the play is harmful, however Vincent stated the league discovered no accidents on the play in 2024.