The NFL owners voted on a host of new rules and proposals, all of which you can read below. The most high profile change is the revised catch rule. The revision passed by a unanimous 32-0 vote, and clearly will end all complaints about what is or is not a catch.
Yes, that was sarcasm. In detailing the rule, we heard about how Dez Bryant’s incompletion and many other notable non-catches would in fact be catches. You can read the full rundown of how the rule would change in the original proposal. The new rule requires two feet or a body part other than the hand being down, and an act common to the game is completed before the ball comes loose. The going-to-the-ground language was removed. Hopefully this works out, but we’ll see when it gets put in play this fall.
The two other notable rule changes are to make permanent a kickoff touchback starting at the 25-yard line, and give the NFL central office the ability to instruct a referee to eject a player for a given flagrant non-football act.
One rule that did not happen was changing pass interference to a 15-yard penalty outside of intentional and egregious acts. It is currently a spot of the fall play. Giving officials a subjective decision on what is intentional and egregious is not ideal, but I do think there needs to be a change away from purely spot of the foul.
There was a notable bylaw passed as well. Teams are now allowed to trade a player that is on their injured reserve list. The San Francisco 49ers and two other west coast teams had proposed a rule reducing the amount of 10 a.m. PT road games that west coast teams would need to play, but that did not pass.
Here’s the full list of rule changes.
The playing rules & bylaws approved by @NFL clubs this morning pic.twitter.com/vyfeqLybLl
— Michael Signora (@NFLfootballinfo) March 27, 2018