Kevin Seifert
Multiple Authors
The NFL competition committee has finalized a series of wide-ranging rule change proposals to account for the growing possibility of a work stoppage amid tense collective bargaining negotiations with the NFL Referees Association, according to a list released by the league Tuesday.
The changes would only apply if the NFL hires replacement officials, a process it began preparing for earlier this month by reaching out to mostly small-college officiating supervisors in an effort to develop a list of 150 replacement candidates. The NFLRA’s current CBA is set to expire May 31.
If a work stoppage were to continue into the regular season, the new rules would create a type of centralized officiating that the league hopes would help avert the chaos encountered in 2012, when replacement officials worked the first three weeks of the season. While each game would still be officiated from the field, staff members in the league’s Art McNally Gameday Central command center in New York would be permitted to weigh in on a wide variety of called and uncalled penalties and would take on additional roles following the two-minute warning and in overtime.
NFL owners will discuss and possibly vote on the changes next week at their annual meeting in Phoenix. All rule changes require approval from at least 24 of the league’s 32 teams.
According to verbiage the NFL released Tuesday, league staff members could alert a replacement referee if they see clear and obvious evidence of an uncalled foul for roughing the passer, intentional grounding or an act that would normally lead to disqualification.
Those staff members would also be permitted to alert replacement referees that a flag shouldn’t have been thrown if there is clear and obvious video evidence that “at least one element of the foul called is not present,” according to the verbiage. Fouls eligible for this alert include: twisting, pulling, or turning the facemask; roughing the passer; intentional grounding; horse-collar tackles; illegal contact; pass interference; and disqualification.
In 2019, the NFL conducted a one-year experiment that subjected pass interference to replay review. The effort bogged down amid a muddled standard for overturning an on-field decision. In Tuesday’s proposal, the competition committee limited league staff member’s involvement only to circumstances where “there was inadvertent tangling of feet when both players were playing the ball or neither player was playing the ball.”
In addition, after the two-minute warning or in overtime, the list of called or uncalled penalties that league staff members could provide referees with would expand to include unsportsmanlike conduct based on punching or kicking at an opponent. During kicks, league staff members could also consult on the leverage and leaping rules.
Finally, throughout a game, league staff members could assist on discerning whether a foul should be classified as roughing or running into the kicker.
Speaking last week to ESPN, NFLRA executive director Scott Green said he was surprised the NFL would consider using replacement officials given the potential threat to player safety as well as what he said was an increased vulnerability to gambling. In a statement to ESPN, NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller said in part that the league had been “compelled” to begin considering alternatives because “in almost two years of negotiations, the union has made no effort to work with us on a goal we should all share — ensuring an officiating culture that’s centered around performance and accountability.”
The competition committee also proposed:
• A rule that, regardless of whether there are replacement officials, allows the referee to consult with league staff members on whether a penalized act was “flagrant” and should result in a disqualification. It also would allow league staff members to disqualify a player for a flagrant act even if it wasn’t flagged on the field. A penalty would then be assessed as well.
• Allowing teams to declare an onside kick at any time in a game, regardless of score. Currently, teams can only use the onside kick if they are trailing.
• Closing a loophole that incentivized teams to intentionally put kickoffs out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line, because of a penalty on the opponent.
• A modification of kickoff alignment requirements for the receiving team.
• Adjusting roster cutdown dates and procedures to account for international games in the first week of the season.
• Previously, the Cleveland Browns had proposed allowing teams to trade draft picks up to five years in the future, up from the current level of three.
Leave a Reply