Editorial tweaks have added small changes in the rulebook

While the NFL owners meetings in March made a few changes to the rules regarding overtime and replay, they did not actually approve any major changes to the in-game playing rules. This doesn’t mean the NFL didn’t make some changes “under the hood” by applying some editorial tweaks to the rule book.

Football Zebras compared the revisions in the 2025 rulebook to last year’s, and found a few differences that were just language changes, but others that do add new interpretations or mechanics to certain rules.

No reconsidering penalties after a spot. Coaches can no longer change their mind on accepting or declining a penalty once it has been administered. Some deference was given to coaches that they might have been confused by the implications of the option, particularly if there were other elements in play. However, coaches were a little cute about it several times last year, and here we see Eagles coach Nick Siriani reconsider declining a penalty after he sees that the Rams weren’t going to kick on 4th & 3. This was administered properly last year, as there weren’t clear guidelines to disallow a coach from doing this. But an officiating source told us last year that vice president of officiating Ramon George was going to change that in the offseason.

When the ball is spotted and the penalty has been announced, the decision is locked in. There will be an exception if the crew assumes what the coach will decide — which they do often for expediency’s sake — and the coach chooses the opposite. Also, if the play is changed by a replay review, a coach’s challenge, or replay assist, or if the crew determines that there was legitimate confusion over the options, then a coach may change his mind on a penalty.

Illegally batting or kicking a ball out of bounds is a 10-second runoff. Illegally batting or kicking a loose ball out of bounds has been added to the list of actions that conserve time. Consequently, if the offense (or the team last in possession before the loose ball) commits this action, a 10-second runoff will be applied in addition to the 10-yard penalty. This makes the runoff consistent with a backward pass out of bounds to kill the clock.

Intentional grounding changes. To further clarify when a play should be called for intentional grounding, the rule no longer specifies the pass must be incomplete. This topic came up on Episode #4 of the 1st & 25 podcast, when we discussed a play where an ineligible receiver caught a pass that was being illegally grounded by the QB. This negated an intentional grounding foul for an illegal touching foul.

In Week 12, the Steelers had to decline a penalty on the Browns for a lineman touching a pass (which is not a loss of down) on a throwaway pass that would otherwise have been grounding.

Also dropped from the rule was the phrase “realistic chance of completion”, as this really lead to varying interpretations of “realistic” between officials, players, and coaches. Officials will continue to focus on the location of the thrower, where the pass lands, and the location of eligible receivers.

Catch criteria. For a receiver to be judged to complete a catch, the player must now “clearly perform an act common to the game,” a distinction likely to be for replay purposes. This includes taking a third step, tucking the ball away, etc. Importantly, simply turning upfield is insufficient, and officials/replay will not consider it a football move. It can be part of the entire action by the receiver, but it would need to be accompanied by a third step or securing the ball to be considered a clear act common to the game.

Defenseless hit penalized for “initiating” contact. The addition of “initiate” to the language for defenseless player hits adds further onus on the defending player to control the contact they make with the opponent, even in the event of incidental contact to the head or neck area or when the defenseless player lowers their own head. This covers all defenseless players, including QBs after the release of a pass, receivers who haven’t become runners, returners fielding a kick, etc. It also brings more clarity to the interpretation of the rule, in that incidental contact could not be seen as “initiating contact.”

Broader definition of hip-drop tackle. New language now adds “and/or” to the definition of a hip drop tackle where one drops one’s hips and/or body weight, even when using a one-hand tackling technique. The NFL mostly enforced hip-drop fouls with post-game fines during the first year of enforcement, as there was a recognition before season the that all the elements in quick succession were difficult to catch in real time. That didn’t make the technique any less dangerous, but the Competition Committee did not want fouls for tackles that would be legal with the benefit of replay.

Simulating kneeldowns. It was a dead ball if a quarterback simulated kneeling behind the line of scrimmage. This was extended to a quarterback beyond the line of scrimmage. There is a bit of a timing element involved here, specifically regarding quarterbacks vs. nonquarterbacks, which we discussed on an unusual play last preseason.

Potential subs cannot withdraw after approaching the referee. Offensive substitution rules are in place to quash any attempt to deceive the defense regarding the scheme, package, or formation that the offense may employ on a particular play. The substitution rules have been tweaked regarding when a substitute enters the field and approaches the huddle. Previously, if an incoming substitute approached the huddle and communicated with a teammate, he must participate in one play before leaving the field. That communication provision now includes speaking with officials. This would likely apply when an ineligible player reports, which is highly indicative of the offensive scheme. It is still a warning to violate this rule, followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct foul.

Replay can decide where a punt goes out of bounds. Replay assist will be able to give a spot where a punt goes out of bounds if there is objective evidence showing where it crossed the sideline.

No multiple fouls on a kickoff to manipulate clock. For the 2017 season, following a game-ending tactic the prior year where multiple players intentionally committed holding in order to allow the runner to hold the ball until the clock ran out, a rule change was passed that prevented multiple intentional fouls to manipulate the game clock. For the first time since that change was passed 8 years ago, the rule has been reworded to include kickoffs in addition to scrimmage plays. The text of the rule originally just stated that multiple fouls could not be committed “during the same down” and did not clarify a scrimmage down versus a free kick down.

In addition to the changes listed above, there were several technical changes that do not affect the rules:

• All references to bandannas in the uniform rules were changed to bandanas.
• A 12th player who is on the field to hold a kickoff ball must exit the field with the kicking tee and only to his own sideline, which were just assumed.
• References to launching players have been changed to lunging, presumably because the launch rules no longer required a springing action with both feet.
• A player who slides feet first or head first is downed immediately upon a body part other than a hand or foot touching the ground. This was revised to a more encompassing terminology as sliding or diving.
• The ATC spotter who is a neutral athletic trainer monitoring players to be removed for concussion protocol are now designated as AT spotters.
• There were minor corrections to the field markings section.
• The end of the coach’s box was corrected from 25 yards to 27 yards.
• Many years after the crowd noise rule was removed, the raised hand in the illustrations of referee signals no longer indicates it is for crowd noise.