The NFL Competition Committee held a conference call on Wednesday to go over possible rule change proposals that will be discussed at the NFL Annual Meeting, which starts Sunday in Phoenix.
Twenty-three rule changes and four bylaw changes were proposed. Eighteen of the suggested rule tweaks came from the teams.
Instant replay made up the bulk of the suggested rule changes, with the first 13 proposals related to challenges and replay reviews. Plenty of these are bound to be shot down when put to a vote.
Here's what you need to know about all the rules that will be discussed and potentially voted on by the owners next week:
- The first proposal asks for coaches to call a timeout instead of throwing the beloved red flag to challenge a call. Teams would earn the timeout back if the challenge is upheld.
- The Detroit Lions submitted a proposal that would make all penalties reviewable. We don't expect this to be passed.
- A less-aggressive proposal by the Tennessee Titans calls for all personal foul penalties to be reviewable through a coach's challenge. The Redskins made a similar proposal without asking for reviews to be tied to a challenge.
- The Patriots were again active with suggested rule changes: New England proposed a tweak that would eliminate the ban on challenges in the final two minutes of the half and overtime.
- The Patriots also proposed fixed cameras on sidelines, end lines and goal lines to supplement those provided by broadcast networks. This is something Gregg Rosenthal and Around The NFL have been lobbying for since way back.
- Bill Belichick wasn't done there. New England also proposed to push back PATs to the 15-yard line, with two-point tries staying at the 2-yard line. The Pats aren't giving up this request.
- The Colts are asking for the league to consider an intriguing new scoring system in the preseason. Their proposal calls for a "bonus field goal" that would allow teams to kick an extra point following a successful two-point try. The trick? The tacked-on PAT would come from 50 yards out. This feels like a long shot.
- The Chicago Bears presented a rule change that would award possession to both teams in overtime.
- One bylaw proposal calls to eliminate the summertime roster cut down from 90 to 75 players. Instead, teams would be asked to chop their squads from 90 to 53 players.
- We learned during the question-and-answer portion of the call that the NFL will discuss the language in the rules of what constitutes a catch, but no specific proposal is on the table to overhaul that murky topic.
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