Plan to assist replacement refs among approved NFL rules changes

PHOENIX — NFL owners approved two significant changes to the league’s replay review system Tuesday, one that is contingent on the NFL using replacement officials this season and one that will take effect whether or not there is an officiating work stoppage.

The NFL and NFL Referees Association broke off collective bargaining last week as a May 31 expiration of their contract looms. The league has already begun collecting names of college officials who could serve as replacements during the preseason and possibly the regular season, if needed.

The first set of Tuesday’s approved changes will create a massive expansion of authority for staffers in the league’s officiating command center in New York City, allowing them to consult with the on-field referee on a wide variety of called and uncalled penalties and other administrative procedures.

Rich McKay, co-chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, said the league would reallocate existing gameday employees to ensure appropriate staffing levels to cover each game if a work stoppage activates these rule changes. NFL owners are “alarmed” about the state of negotiations, sources said over the weekend, and NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller said Tuesday that owners are “insistent upon” a new CBA that provides avenues to improve the state of NFL officiating.

“That’s where we are in these negotiations,” Miller said, “and that’s exactly where we’re going to stay.”

According to verbiage in the rule, staff members in New York 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 face mask; 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 approved rule, the competition committee limited league staff members’ 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.

NFL team employees received a memo over the weekend prohibiting public discussion of the NFLRA negotiations.

Dallas Cowboys owner and CEO and co-chair of the competition committee Stephen Jones declined to talk about the contingency plan Monday, “out of respect for the process and ongoing negotiations.” Multiple head coaches also declined to comment on officiating throughout the meetings.

New England Patriots coach and competition committee member Mike Vrabel said in jest, “I think we should just have coaches call fouls.”

“I trust the league,” San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York told ESPN on Monday. “I don’t deal with that piece of the NFL. I’m not on any committees that deal with it, so whatever they’re going to do, I trust the league’s operations.”

Another club owner who requested anonymity told ESPN: “We have to be prepared for everything.”

Meanwhile, the second change to replay review will represent a notable shift for owners who have previously sought to limit its scope. For the first time, replay officials in New York will have the authority to both disqualify a player and direct that a penalty be enforced even if on-field officials had not thrown a flag, in the case of either a flagrant football act or non-football act. It takes effect independent of negotiations with the NFLRA.

Previously, owners have not wanted replay officials to throw a flag because they wanted to preserve that for the discretion of on-field officials. The original wording of Tuesday’s rule change did not allow replay officials to throw a flag. But McKay said it was amended when multiple coaches said there should be an on-field impact if the act is flagrant enough to merit disqualification.

“They said, ‘Hey, if we’re going to do this, we have to put a flag on, because we cannot have a 4th-and-2 show up, they disqualified a player from the previous play for a non-football act — he’s punched somebody, he’s done whatever — and the team still has to punt,'” McKay said.

McKay said he foresees a continued effort to expand replay review and assist in the near future but said: “We’ve stayed true to the idea that we want replay assist, and we want New York to be able to help, and we just don’t want to move too fast. We don’t want to add too much to it.”

In other changes, owners approved:

• A rule that eliminates a team’s incentive to kick the ball out of bounds on kickoffs from the 50-yard line.

• Allowing teams to declare an onside kick at any point in a game. This change arose because teams wanted to be able to use an onside kick if a penalty enforcement led to them kicking off from the 50.

• A modification of alignment requirements on the kickoff for members of the receiving team in the setup zone, aligning the kickoff rule with the original intent of special teams coaches who developed it in 2024. The NFL thinks it could address an increase in the concussion rate on kickoffs.

• Approved an expansion of its mental health coverage to require each team to employ a full-time clinician or offer full-time coverage. Eight of the 32 teams already are in compliance. It is subject to approval by the NFL Players Association since it’s part of the collective bargaining agreement. The policy will also provide more support for players on injured reserve.

• A rule that permit players on Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list to begin a 21-day practice period after the team’s second game of the regular season.