In late March, the NFL team owners and league competition committee came together to agree on various rule changes, both permanent and provisional, to be implemented in this upcoming season.
Within the wide range of rules changed, two have been deemed major changes to the league: players will now get ejected from a game if they commit two fouls for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the touch-back after a kickoff will be moved to the 25 yard line.
These two rules will be provisional, similar to last season’s PAT rule at the 15 yard line, which was made permanent for this season.
Although the officials agreed on the new ejection rule, which was allegedly sparked by the mishap between players Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman, the San Francisco 49ers’ head coach Chip Kelly stated in a USA Today article that one foul for unsportsmanlike conduct should be enough for an ejection instead of two. A valid point seeing how much excessive roughness the game has seen in the past few seasons.
On the other hand, teams and fans may be delighted by the new touch-back rule. The amount of touch-backs having increased with each year, and with it set at the 25 yard line, teams are surely going to choose a touch-back over running from deep within their own end zone.
The meeting also seemed to be stressing the safety of the player with the addition of making chop blocking (intentionally hitting someone below the knees) illegal. The dangers of chop blocks are highly injurious to players and should have been banned sooner.
Head of Competition Committee, Rich McKay, stated that “[Chop blocking] is not [a danger] that has overwhelmed us in injury data, but it is not one we feel good about.”
Another provisional rule added was the expansion of the horse collar violation (tackling players by grabbing the back of their collars). The rule was expanded to the nameplate of the player and above, giving mostly running backs the opportunity to run without being dragged down by some of the more malicious defenders in the league.
Even with the numerous rule changes, whether they be large or small, one can expect to see an exciting upcoming season for the NFL.