NFL League Meeting Takeaways

As the NFL and its fans prepare for the Draft in 10 days, the league recently had discussions and voting on potential rule changes during the League Meetings. Among the changes that are coming and could be on the way are new alternate uniform policies, Thursday Night football flexing of games and possibly an 18 game season in the near future. Teams are now allowed to wear their alternate uniforms for four games instead of three. Thursday Night games can now be flexed at least 21 days in advance from weeks 13 to 17. I love this rule as a consumer, players may not love TNF, but as long as we have it, we want to see the most important games on primetime or at least more impactful games than teams with 3-10 or 5-7 records. As for the season 18-game season expansion, we will most likely have that come to fruition in the next few years with the new collective bargaining agreement up in 2030.

POSTSEASON OT RULE CHANGE NOW MATCHES REGULAR SEASON

Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

During last season, both teams would be awarded possession in overtime during the regular season. Once the playoffs came around, it was old playoff OT rules where if the first team scored a touchdown, game was over. Now both teams will be awarded possession during the regular season and postseason. If I had my say, I would have kept the old overtime rules. If we can't get a winner after 60 minutes of gameplay, then I don't think we should make these players play even more minutes with a higher chance of injuries. I also see the NFL as playing offense AND defense. I understand the rules are catered towards offense, but after 60 minutes and you're starting on defense, stop them and you can get a FG and win like the old times. As it stands now, both teams will get a chance at being on offense in a potential extra 10 minute quarter.

DYNAMIC KICKOFF UPDATED

We saw the "Dynamic Kickoff" debut last season, with some success but also met with criticism from all parties. To incentivize more kickoff returns, they are moving the touchback from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line. In 2023, 21.8% of kickoffs were returned compared to 2024 in which 32.8% were returned, per CBS Sports. Which is an improvement, but clearly not enough for where the league wants it to be.

HAWKEYE TECHNIOLOGY?

"Hawk-eye" technology used in tennis

Similar to what tennis uses, the Sony Hawk-eye technology will soon replace "the chain gang." It will be used to measure when a player is close to a first down, and hopefully for crossing the goal line calls too. Not sure how I feel about this because there seems to be issues with certain camera angles the NFL uses already. They seem to never have a camera from straight up above the field looking down so it becomes nearly impossible to see if the ball crosses a certain yard mark. Hopefully this new technology helps the calls become more accurate. I would say maybe a chip in the ball could help solve this issues, but then a new issue or conspiracy may come about. Some people already believe that on field goals, the league can control which way the ball moves in the air to make or miss them. So the "ball chip" may not be a great idea, so us NFL die hards are hoping this new technology is as accurate as possible.

TUSH PUSH BAN? + NO RE-SEEDING FOR PLAYOFFS

AP Photo/Chris Szagola, Flle

The NFL has tabled the discussion to possibly ban the "Tush Push "until May. The proposal came from the Green Bay Packers. I'll talk more about the proposal when it comes back around next month. I will say obviously (to me) the play should not be banned, however, the NFL should allow defenses to be able to push their players on the line too. Just don't allow it on field goal attempts. Soon enough, the NFL may not guarantee division winners a home playoff game and just go based on records. An 8-9 team that wins their division would make the playoffs still, but would not be rewarded with a home playoff game. I believe that is fair, especially for teams that have a win-loss record under .500.