NFL Owners Looking At Three Possible New Rule Changes For 2025 Season

NFL clubs could be making three possible new rule changes for the upcoming season when the owners convene for their annual league meeting starting on March 30.

In several posts on X from the NFL Football Operations account, the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles have proposed changes to rules — with at least two of them having the potential to dramatically change the game.

The first is ending the so-called “tush push” rule which is a modified version of the quarterback sneak that the Eagles made popular during the 2022 season.  The rule change, proposed by the Packers, “would prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap, immediately at the snap.”

While the change doesn’t include the term “tush push” that is exactly what the rule would affect, Yahoo noted.

The Philadelphia Eagles have used the play more successfully than any other team and it is no surprise that an NFC team has proposed to end it after the Eagles became Super Bowl LIX champions.

Ahead of the Annual League Meeting, @NFL clubs are proposing three rule changes for the 2025 season. A ???? 1 /3 ????

The @packers propose changing Rule 12, Section 1.
Read how it’s currently written: https://t.co/mvZcnttJVm pic.twitter.com/a0p2R3Uxqa

— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) March 19, 2025

The second rule, proposed by the Lions, would “eliminate an automatic first down” as a “penalty for defensive holding and illegal contact.”

The third has been proposed by the Eagles and that would be to adopt the two possession approach for overtime that was used during the playoffs but not during the regular season.

This change would grant “both teams an opportunity to possess the ball regardless of the outcome of the first possession, subject to a 15-minute overtime period in the regular season.”

During the regular season, under the current rules, the team that possesses the ball first in overtime can end the game with a touchdown.

The Lions have also proposed a change to the playoff seeding that would’ve definitely made a difference in this year’s playoffs, which resulted in the Minnesota Vikings having to take a road trip to play the Los Angeles Rams, despite having a better overall record than the Rams.

The change would “amend the current playoff seeding format to allow wild card teams to be seeded higher than division champions if the wild card team has a better” overall regular season record.

These are just proposals and will have to be voted on by all the NFL owners at the upcoming meeting before being implemented. That meeting takes place from March 30 to April 2. 

Replace: NFL To Replace Chains With Tech To Measure First Downs