The NFL will gather in West Palm Beach at the end of March and beginning of April for the Annual League meeting, and as usual potential changes to league rules and bylaws will be one of the more scrutinized points on the agenda. This year's proposals for change involve playoff seeding, defensive holding penalties, overtime and, yes, the "Tush Push."
Led by the NFL's Competition Committee, team owners will discuss the proposed changes, which were just announced by the league on Wednesday. They could, but won't necessarily will, come to a decision on any or all of them during the five days in South Florida.
It's a relatively short list of proposals in 2025, with a total of five between the rules and bylaws. These are the rule changes that will be considered:
- Less Punitive Defensive Penalties
The Detroit Lions have proposed removing the automatic first down from the punishment for defensive holding and illegal contact infractions. This is the specific language of Detroit's idea:
"By Detroit; amends Rule 8, Section 4, to eliminate an automatic first down as a penalty imposed for defensive holding and illegal contact."
Presumably, the idea for those two penalties is too punitive. Under the revised rule, each would carry a five-yard punishment and a repeat of down. Anyone who has ever seen his team make a successful stop on third-and-13 only to have a flag on the other side of the field give the offense a brand new set of downs likely understands the motivation here. Every possession – or from a defensive point of view – end of possession – is critical in the NFL and shouldn't be given away too easily. With the example above, the result would be the offense retaining the ball and facing a third-and-eight, thus getting another crack at converting the third down and preserving the drive from five yards closer to the sticks.
- Ban the Tush Push
The Green Bay Packers have proposed making the short-yardage gambit that the defending-champion Philadelphia Eagles have perfected into an illegal play. The proposal was worded very specifically:
"By Green Bay; amends Rule 12, Section 1, to prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap."
By making the language so specific, the Packers seem to be trying to keep the scope narrow on what is being prohibited. Under current NFL rules, a teammate can push but not pull a ballcarrier, which is why the Tush Push is currently allowed. This proposal does not appear to be an attempt to ban any pushing of teammates, only this specific operation.
One assumes that at least the Eagles will be voting against this one, if it comes to a vote, under the notion that a play shouldn't be banned just because they have perfected it.
- Synchronize Overtime Rules
The Eagles didn't play any overtime games on their way to the Lombardi Trophy in 2024, they won both of their games that went to an extra period in 2023 and haven't actually lost an overtime game since 2018, so it's not immediately clear why they are the team bringing this high-profile topic to the league for a vote. In any case, it's likely to be a popular proposal.
"By Philadelphia; amends Rule 16, Section 1, to align the postseason and regular season overtime rules by granting both teams an opportunity to possess the ball regardless of the outcome of the first possession, subject to a 15-minute overtime period in the regular season."
Currrently in the regular season, the overtime rule holds that if the team that gets the first possession scores a touchdown on that drive, the game is over. Only if they are held to a field goal or no score does the other team get a chance with the football. However, in 2022 the NFL amended the overtime rules for the playoffs only to ensure each team gets a possession, even if the first team scores a touchdown. The Eagles would like the rule to be the same in both situations.
The Buccaneers would have liked for this rule to be in place in 2024. They went to overtime twice, in Atlanta in Week Five and in Kansas City in Week Nine – coincidentally in prime time on both occasions – and lost both games without ever touching the ball in the extra quarter.
The Lions also proposed two changes to league bylaws. They are:
- Change Playoff Seeding Procedures
The Lions are bringing up an evergreen subject that raises its head every time a division winner gets to play a home game to start the playoffs against a Wild Card team that has a significantly better record. This past season it was the Minnesota Vikings who finished 14-3 after a Week 18 winner-take-all battle with Detroit for the NFC North title, then had to head to Los Angeles to visit the Rams, who won the NFC West with a 10-7 mark.
"By Detroit; amends Article XX, Section 20.2 of the Constitution & Bylaws, to amend the current playoff seeding format to allow Wild Card teams to be seeded higher than Division Champions if the Wild Card team has a better regular season record."
The Buccaneers have been on both sides of this situation in the past five years. In 2020 they grabbed the top Wild Card spot with an 11-5 record but had to start their Super Bowl run on the road against 7-9 Washington, winners of a depressed NFC East. The Buccaneers escaped with a tight win, then got two more road victories before winning Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium. In 2022, Tampa Bay won the NFC South with an 8-9 mark and got to host the 12-5 Dallas Cowboys. Dallas won and advanced to the next round.
The opposing viewpoint would be that the NFL (and other leagues) have divisions for a reason, and winning your division has historically always delivered an advantage, no matter what your record is. This is a long-standing NFL tradition that will probably prove difficult to undo.
- Injured Reserve and Roster Limit Tweak
Let's start with the specific wording on this one:
"By Detroit; Article XVII, Section 17.1 of the Constitution and Bylaws, to exclude from the 90-player limit a player placed on Reserve/Injured before or on the day of the roster reduction to 53 players, unless such player is Designated for Return."
If you don't have a really good understanding of the NFL's year-around roster limits, like most of us do not, you may not know what the Lions are trying to accomplish with this proposal. Well, the goal is increased "roster flexibility," especially late in the season when injuries can pile up. The Lions know all about that from a frustrating 2024 season, as they had up to 21 players on injured reserve at some point.
Fans are mostly familiar with the 53-man roster limit in the regular season that caps how many active players you can have. But there is also a 90-man overall limit – somewhat akin to MLB's 40-man rosters – that covers active players, practice squad players and players on injured reserve. NFL practice squads now number 16 players per team, so that's 79 spots right there between that and the active roster.
The Lions, reasonably, would like to make it so that players lost to injured reserve before the season starts and thus unable to return to the active roster during the season, would not count against that 90-man limit.
