NFL to discuss post‑replay flags for player‑safety fouls this offseason

In what would be a league first, the NFL is open to discussing throwing flags on the field following video review for plays related to player health and safety.

Dawn Aponte, the NFL's chief football administrative officer for football operations, revealed Friday the league is amenable to those discussions this offseason with the competition committee, with a potential rule change coming this spring for the 2026 regular season.

Plays like facemask, unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer, use of helmet and hip-drop tackles could all be subject to flags being thrown after video review. As of now, replay assist can only adjudicate whether a flag already on the field should have been thrown.

As technology has advanced over the years, the NFL has remained steadfast in its stance that the game is officiated by humans on the football field. The league has enhanced its replay review and replay assist, and coaches have more freedom today than ever in challenging calls on the field.

The concern is multifold, but it consists of two main tenets. First, a flag could be thrown on nearly every play. To review any given play with the possibility of placing a flag on the field is untenable. Second, players, coaches and fans all have to believe in the integrity of the game. Officials on the field are responsible for officiating -- not the eye in the sky or league officials huddled in New York.

That is why the league could try this on player safety fouls rather than high-leverage, highly subjective calls like defensive pass interference, which was a disaster in the 2019 season.

Something (mostly) objective like a facemask should be able to be flagged with the help of video assistance, one may argue. An official's eyes may have missed unnecessary roughness while officiating a different part of the play, and video can only help in that regard.

And then there's the hip-drop tackle, one of the most injurious plays in the league that the NFL has tried to eradicate from the game. Since creating a multi-step rule prohibiting the play ahead of the 2024 season, the NFL has fined players about 30 times each year. But there have been only three total flags on the field.

The league heard from teams that wish the tackle, which can end a player's season with a lower-extremity injury, would be punished in real time rather than with a fine a week later. Allowing potential hip-drop tackles to be reviewed on video would surely result in more penalties on the field.

It would be a brave new step for the NFL to institute such a rule change. The competition committee will meet in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine to discuss potential changes, and any rules proposal would then go to a vote among the 32 clubs at the annual meetings in late March.