The NFL is moving toward changing overtime rules across regular season to match playoff games, with league executives acknowledging the current system provides an unfair advantage to teams winning the coin toss.
“It’s time to rethink the overtime rule,” NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent said Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. “The competition committee agrees overtime rules need to be addressed.”
Statistics support Vincent’s concern, showing teams receiving the ball first in overtime have won 56.8% of games from 2017 to 2024, an increase from 55.4% between 2001 and 2011.
Current regular season overtime consists of a single 10-minute period where both teams get a possession unless a touchdown is scored on the opening drive. In playoffs, both teams are guaranteed a possession regardless of whether the first team scores a touchdown, and periods last 15 minutes instead of 10.
The league is considering either applying the playoff rules to regular season games or extending the overtime period to 15 minutes while maintaining other aspects of the current format.
In addition to overtime changes, the NFL plans to implement its virtual measuring system for determining first downs in 2025, though traditional chain crews will remain as backup.
“We used this in the background last season,” said Kimberly, the NFL’s senior vice president of football operations. “The goal for 2025 is to continue to train our techs, who are the ones who will be utilizing the technology, finalizing all of our officiating processes and procedures around virtual measurements and testing the graphics for the broadcast and in-stadium.”
The competition committee is also reviewing potential expansion of the replay assist system to include more fouls, though Vincent noted “there was no appetite” from the committee to use video replay to throw flags that weren’t called on the field.
In 2024, replay assist was used to pick up flags for roughing the passer, unnecessary roughness, intentional grounding and ineligible player downfield penalties. Potential expansion for 2025 could include face masks, tripping, illegal crackback blocks and horse-collar tackles.
Kickoff rules are also under review after a one-year trial with the “dynamic kickoff” format, which increased return rates but severely impacted onside kick success. Teams recovered only 3 of 50 onside kick attempts under the new rules, the lowest recovery rate since 2001.
“Universal consensus that we know we need to do something with this play,” Vincent said regarding onside kicks, adding that the touchback spot will likely move from the 30- to 35-yard line.
Despite a proposal from the Green Bay Packers to ban the “tush push” quarterback sneak popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles, Vincent noted the league found no injuries resulting from the play in 2024, suggesting it’s likely to remain legal.