On Wednesday, the NFL Competition Committee unveiled several potential NFL rule changes that could go into effect this year. The proposed changes will be discussed and voted on at the NFL owners meetings in Florida next week, and if passed, things like replay, roster dates and other rules and bylaws would be affected.
Via SB Nation, here's the list of the proposed changes to the rules and bylaws (for more on the proposals, check out Pro Football Talk):
The seven proposed rule changes are:
- Moving video reviews to the booth
- Removing the exception to the horse-collar tackle for quarterbacks in the pocket
- Changing regular season overtime rules to match those used in the playoffs
- Adding a loss of down to the penalty for kicking a loose ball
- Adopting college rules for too many men on the field
- Expanding the rule on crackback blocks that would make it illegal to hit players in the head or neck area
- Automatic instant replay of turnovers
The six proposed changes to the NFL bylaws are:
- Modify roster rules for teams playing on Thanksgiving and Christmas
- Moving the trade deadline back to Week 8
- Expanding offseason roster limit to 90 players, including undrafted free agents
- Moving the league's final roster cut deadline to Friday evening rather than the Saturday prior to the start of the season
- Adding a roster exemption for a player on injured reserve
- A weekly roster exemption for each team for a player inactive due to a concussion
Out of all the proposed changes, I'm personally most excited about the possibility of the final roster cutdown happening on a Friday rather than a Saturday. This is because usually all of the news about the final round of roster cuts takes place on the first Saturday of college football season. As somebody who is usually at a game, it's a pain to have to track all of the moves the Lions make from my phone in a stadium, so it'd be nice to get everything out of the way on a Friday.
Of all those proposed changes, which one do you especially hope is passed?
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