All the NFL owners agreed on some things yesterday, and there are four new rule changes that will start this year, but I will say they are mostly things that really don’t even matter.
The 2026 NFL Annual League Meeting is held from March 29 to April 1, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona. Team owners, executives, and head coaches meet to vote on rule changes, discuss league policies, and review the previous season.
No, the tush push did not get banned and honestly will never be because other teams can’t prefect it and it was not as effective in 2025 as it has been in all the previous years, but take a look below and I will go over what was approved to change and my thoughts about them all and if they even really matter.
🏈 By Competition Committee; to permit the kicking team to declare an onside kick at any time during the game.
🏈 By Competition Committee; to eliminate the kicking team’s incentive to intentionally kick the ball out of
Rule Changes
The first by the Competition Committee; to permit the kicking team to declare an onside kick at any time during the game. This is the one that just does not even make sense.
How about we go back to allowing the eliminate of surprise, like the Saints did in the Super Bowl? You play to win the game, take chances, you should not have to tell the other team when you are declaring to kick an onside kick.
Allowing onside kicks at any time could really change late-game strategy. Coaches are going to get a lot more creative with risk-taking.
They are approved to eliminate the kicking team’s incentive to intentionally kick the ball out of bounds when kicking off from the 50-yard line.
The new rule, designed to improve the New Kickoff Rule adopted in 2024, likely places the ball at a disadvantageous spot for the kicking team (e.g., the 40-yard line or further back) if they kick out of bounds, reversing the previous strategic advantage.
The third and final kickoff rule that they agreed to change is to modify the kickoff alignment requirements for the receiving team players in the setup zone, again something that doesn’t even matter.
The only one for the season that could help, but it won’t work UNLESS a flag is thrown and not just a missed call on the field is for one year only, to allow the NFL Officiating Department to correct clear and obvious misses made by on-field officials that impact the game.
In the event that there is a work stoppage involving the game, officials represented by the NFL Referees Association.
My guess for this last one is that they are going to test it like they did about to replay and challenge the pass interference calls like they did a few years ago. It was so bad they just decided to get rid of it and now everyone wants it back.
I don’t think anyone will even notice any of these changes, but these are the biggest things that came from the owners’ meetings and today is the last day and then next is the NFL draft starting on April 23rd and the Dallas Cowboys have two first round picks.
The NFL is dealing with the possibility of replacement refs, these random rule changes, and we have to see what is going to happen with George Pickens, who might not even report to the offseason program, so a lot is going on right now, and that is good, I guess because it gets pretty boring trying to write 5 posts a week with not a long going on in the offseason.
As one source said today: “Our direction (from owners) is not to be unprepared.”
Let’s see how the rest of this month goes and look forward to the NFL draft at the end of it and what else the Cowboys do.
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