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NFL fans have been complaining about the rules of the sport for decades and the 2024 season is no exception.
After approving a slew of new rules – including an adjustment that changed the look of kickoffs – the league has shown openness to change.
That appears to potentially extend to next season as the NFL considers allowing leagues to expand the capacity for plays that can be subject to video review.
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, Troy Vincent – the NFL’s EVP of Football Operations – said that the NFL’s competition committee plans on discussing expanding the replay assist to allow them to review specific penalties, like facemasks.
This season, the competition committee expanded replay to help officials when it came to intentional grounding and roughing-the-passer calls.
But this season in particular, the referees have had trouble accurately calling facemask penalties.
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) is grabbed by the facemask by Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James (3). The NFL is considering adding replay for facemasks.
Los Angeles Rams safety Jaylen McCollough (39) grabs the facemask of New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson in a game played on November 17, 2024
Unlike in other sports around the world – specifically in the other kind of football that they’d call soccer in the United States – video instant replay (or, as some would call it, VAR) has been slowly implemented and has many issues.
That’s not the case in the NFL – which used instant replay beginning in 1986 and has used its current system since 1999. Football at the college level has had instant replay guidelines since 2006.
A current list of reviewable instances include: scoring plays, complete/incomplete/intercepted passes, receiver/runner out of bounds, recovery of a loose ball in/out of bounds, touching of a forward pass, quarterback pass/fumble, illegal forward pass, forward/backward pass, runner ruled not down by contact, forward progress, touching of a kick, plays involving the placement of a ball, whether or not there are a legal number of players on the field, and ejections.
Previously, coaches and officials were allowed to review for pass interference back in 2019. But that review process was abused to the point where the league scrapped it within a year.
The NFL’s competition committee is made up of team owners, coaches, and executives to review the competitive aspects of the game and propose new rules and changes.
A new rule or a rule change can’t be adopted unless 75 percent of the league’s owners – currently 24 of 32 – agrees to the change.
