For NFL fans desperate for football in March, the NFL's annual league meeting might have been a highly anticipated event. Every year, all 32 NFL franchises meet and vote on new rule proposals for the upcoming season, and the league has already passed some changes for 2024.
Don't worry, Eagles fans, the "Tush Push" is still legal.
There are 10 rule change proposals with six having already been passed. The meeting is still ongoing, so more can be passed before the March 27 deadline.
Here's what the six changes are and what each means for the 2024 NFL season.
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What are the 2024 NFL rule changes?
Below are the NFL rule changes for the 2024 season. In order to have a rule passed, 75 percent of owners must vote in favor.
NFL bans hip-drop tackle
The NFL decided to take another step toward hopefully protecting its players by banning hip-drop tackles, which caused an uproar from fans and players alike.
The hip-drop tackle happens when a defender wraps up the offensive player either on his side or behind him, becomes dead weight, and lands on the player's legs.
It's resulted in numerous injuries, and Rich McKay, the chairman of the NFL's competition committee, said they see "an injury more or less every week in the regular season on the hip-drop."
While players expressed their outrage, the owners felt it was a necessity. They unanimously outlawed the tackle on Monday, March 25.
With every rule change, especially those that alter in-game techniques, players and referees will need time to adjust. Using a hip-drop tackle in a game will result in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down.
Here's the official wording of Rule 12, Section 2, Article 18:
ARTICLE 18. HIP-DROP TACKLE. It is a foul if a player uses the following technique to bring a runner to the ground:
(a) grabs the runner with both hands or wraps the runner with both arms; and
(b) unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.
Penalty: For a Hip-Drop Tackle: Loss of 15 yards and an automatic first down.
Kickoff modified on one-year trial
Kickoff returns are some of the most exciting plays in football. Devin Hester was so good at it that he's being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
That age of kickoff returns has vanished, however, as kickers either boot the ball so far or players often play it safe. Two teams running full speed at each other at least 20 yards apart is dangerous. It's not an active element of the game in any other capacity.
The 2024 season will feature a new kickoff layout on a one-year trial. The kicker will still kick off from 35-yard line (and 20-yard line on safety kicks), but the kicking team will line up on the receiving team's 40-yard line.
The new era of kickoffs pic.twitter.com/oweXlx4Jj1
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) March 26, 2024
The kicking team players cannot move until the ball hits the ground, end zone, or receiving player.
For the receiving team, at least nine players must line up between the 35- and 30-yard line, and there can be up to two returners in the "landing zone."
The changes will keep the sides from bashing into each other unnecessarily while promoting the usage of kickoff returns.
NFL makes it easier to earn third challenge
Coaches had to play their cards perfectly to earn a third challenge previously. Not just one, but both of their challenges had to be successful if they wanted another opportunity to send the referees to review again.
Not anymore. Coaches just need to have one successful challenge to earn their third. There's no fourth challenge available.
The Detroit Lions proposed this change, one of four ideas submitted by a team. The other six proposals were initiated by the committee.
Replay review for roughing the passer and intentional grounding
The committee approved reviews triggered by the replay assistant — not a coach's challenge — for roughing the passer and intentional grounding penalties.
"The competition committee has long opposed challenges to penalty calls because it essentially substitutes one person’s judgment for another’s," NFL Network's Tom Pelissero said on X, formerly Twitter. "This is much more narrow, but another step toward empowering the replay assistant to fix clear and obvious mistakes."
The rule change opens the possibility for more penalties to be challenged in the upcoming seasons.
Double foul with possession change
This change is fairly situational given that fouls have to occur during a change of possession.
If there's a double foul, penalties will offset if the team that had possession last did not have "clean hands," which means "no infringements," according to CBS Sports.
Additionally, if the double foul occurs after the possession change "or the offense commits an unnecessary roughness or an unsportsmanlike conduct foul before the change of possession, the penalties are offset, and the team last in possession shall retain the ball at the spot where its foul would be enforced if it was the only foul."
Replay review when game clock expires before snap
Another replay review change comes to correct issues revolving around the game clock.
If "there is clear and obvious visual evidence that the game clock expired before any snap," the replay can be reviewed, and play on the field can be adjusted accordingly.