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One of the many uses of the NFL Annual Meeting is for the league to hear all 32 teams’ rules, bylaws and resolution proposals and then decide which ones to ratify ahead of the upcoming season. On Tuesday at this year’s meeting in Phoenix, 17 game rules, three bylaws and three resolutions were approved. Here they were and a look at what hit the cutting room floor leading up to the 2023 season.
2023 approved game rules
Rule change: Players can use zero (“0”) as their jersey number; kickers and gamblers can use any jersey number between 0-49 and 90-99.
- Amendment to Rule 4, Section 6, Article 3 and Section 7, Article 4 proposed by the Los Angeles Chargers
Rule change: Referees adjust the game clock after an immediate replay reversal in the same way as after other interruptions. Previously, players in such situations had to signal back to the officials to request more time on the game clock.
- Amendment to Rule 15, Section 1, Article 2 proposed by the Houston Texans
Rule change: The replay official can automatically judge a close play on a failed fourth-down attempt. This saves the team a challenge if it’s a close call on fourth. The rule change can speed up the game as the replay official can review the game immediately.
- To change the definition of a launch proposed by the Race Committee
Rule change: A launch, which is a personal foul (15 yard penalty), is now when a player leaves one or both feet to make a tackle.
- Making a personal foul of stumbling, proposed by the race committee
Rule change: If a player is called for tripping, the penalty will result in 15 yards and an automatic first down.
- To make handing the football into a penalty such as an illegal forward pass proposed by the Competition Committee
Rule change: This will penalize teams that pass the ball forward on a read option, for example, or penalize another play in progress. Handoffs must be made next to or behind the quarterback, not in front of it.
- To equate the penalty for illegal punts, drop kicks or place kicks with an illegal forward pass as proposed by the game committee
Rule change: As a result, the actions listed above count towards the loss of a down at the spot of the offense, as does an illegal forward pass.
- To prevent the offense from benefiting from an extra play at the end of the half due to an offensive penalty proposed by the Competition Committee
Rule change: For example, if the offense commits a holding penalty, it will no longer result in an untimed extra down.
- To clarify the use of a helmet against an opponent, proposed by the Race Committee
Rule change: Removes the words “butt, ram and spear” from Article 8 and adds these actions to the penalty for “Improper use of the helmet”.
2023 Approved Statutes
- Change of the claim period to Monday for players waived on the Friday and Saturday of the last week of the regular season, proposed by the Competition Committee
Rule change: This allows teams to add these players to their roster earlier in the week leading up to the playoffs, making them eligible to play for their teams.
- To insert victory power as a second tiebreaker for awarding contracts, proposed by the Competition Commission
Rule change: This allows teams for the power of victory to be the second tiebreaker for post-season seeding after the head-to-head tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker was previously a conference record. It appears the league had a typo in the press release they sent out about this rule.
- To adjust the post-season signing rules to account for the default increment rule; to freeze postseason rosters at 4 p.m. ET on the Wednesday following the last week of the regular season
Rule change: This will allow the league and teams to better account for their postseason roster spots and clarify a new time to complete playoff rosters.
2023 approved resolutions
- To make regular season and post season transaction deadlines the same; changes the transaction deadline for Saturday night postseason games to 4:00 PM ET on Saturday.
Rule change: This allows teams to make last-minute roster adjustments, just as teams do in the regular season.
- To clarify a player’s availability for a game, proposed by the Los Angeles Chargers
Rule change: Last season, Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins played one moment against the Cleveland Browns in Week 14 after adjusting his hamstring during pre-game warmups. Still, Cincinnati removed Higgins from the injury report prior to the game, making it look like he was going to play. Bengals head coach Zach Taylor said that Higgins “found his way onto the field”, but that he had no intention of playing against him. This change is probably intended to prevent situations like this from happening.
- Establishing one date for pre-season shortening and associated procedures, proposed by 25 teams
Rule change: The NFL keeps their 32 teams roster at 90 all through the preseason and then has one day to take the team from 90 to 53. This will likely result in fewer preseason starters and an avalanche of cuts across the league at the same time.
2023 unapproved game rules, statutes and resolutions
Rule change: Last season, umpires appeared to give the passer penalties on some plays that appeared to be normal quarterback hits or sacks. For example, Grady Jarrett’s Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle roughening up the passer penalty on Tom Brady. Atlanta needed one last stop to get the ball back with less than two minutes left in a one-possession game.
- To teams to go for it in fourth and twenty after a score instead of an onside pick, suggested by the Philadelphia Eagles (according to NFL Media)
Rule change: Onside kicks were recovered at an NFL all-time low rate of 4%, per NFL Media. NFL Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay said: through NFL Media, that there is “no appetite for the onside kick to go away yet.” The NFL would reportedly like to see a 13-14% recovery rate so they can be open to changes in later seasons. Just not before 2023.
Rule change: According to NFL.com, the rule of the third quarterback came to life in 1991 and it gave teams an emergency passer that did not count towards the 45-man roster on game day. In 2011, owners and players agreed to expand matchday rosters from 45 to 46 players. The details of this change meant that if an NFL team wanted to wear a third quarterback on game day, their uniformed inclusion would count towards the game day roster.
The San Francisco 49ers could have desperately used a third quarterback in their NFC Championship Game loss at the Philadelphia Eagles in which third-string quarterback Brock Purdy and fourth-string quarterback Josh Johnson were both injured. The 49ers were already without injured quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo. With this rule brought back, they could have had another quarterback in uniform.
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