The NFL announced Thursday it would consider 19 proposals for rule changes to possibly go into affect next season. Over a conference call Thursday, NFL officials and Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay are expected to arrange an agenda for the league's annual meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., next week.
The NFL will likely pass a rule that would require a player to be ejected after receiving two personal foul calls. The NFL and Competition Committee just need to decide what personal fouls will warrant an ejection.
To save you time sifting through the NFL's lengthy document trying to find the rule change proposal you really want, the league is not changing their catch rules. Perhaps no rule has been questioned more by fans and pundits, or has been inconsistently called by officials, but a potential change to the rule is not on the table.
Finally, the catch rule won't change, either, which was expected. But the public education of the catch rule & how its officiated continues
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 17, 2016
Proposals the NFL will consider are expanding what is reviewable and how many challenges head coaches get.Last year, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians supported everything being reviewable, though the NFL does not seem open to the idea.
A more likely change could be giving head coaches an additional challenge, a proposal the Baltimore Ravens offered. Meanwhile, the Redskins proposed allowing officials to review personal foul calls. It is unclear if the ejection proposal will have any bearing on this proposal.
Another hot-button issue the NFL will not address is the length of the preseason, though the Washington Redskins proposed eliminating overtime in such games. The Green Bay Packers expressed interest in shortening the preseason from four games to three, though the Competition Committee was never likely to endorse such a change.
Any change to shorten the number of preseason games NFL teams play will likely come from talks between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. Shortening the preseason could also allow the league to add two more playoff teams per conference, thus adding two extra first-round games. Such a decision is easy financially since playoff games make more money than preseason games, but it is unclear if the Players Association would go for it.
