NFL’s new rules for 2025 season: What you need to know

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A new NFL season is set to begin with last year’s experiment on the new kickoff becoming permanent with a new tweak and several other changes in rules and officiating.

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The league also will implement changes to the overtime rule for the regular season, expand replay assist, crack down on bad sportsmanship and use Hawk-Eye virtual measuring to replace the old-time chains to determine first downs.

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The league experimented with the so-called dynamic kickoff in 2024 in hopes of more returns while also making the play safer. Owners voted in April to make the change permanent while moving touchbacks on kicks that reach the end zone on the fly from the 30 to the 35, which is expected to lead to more kicks in play and more returns.

There was no change in the tush push play that Philadelphia used so successfully on the way to winning the Super Bowl last season.

Here’s an explanation of some of the new rules that will be in place.

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What’s new with the kickoff?

The league was mostly pleased with the experimental kickoff put in place for 2024 that led to the rate of kickoff returns increasing from a record-low 21.8% in 2023 to 32.8% last season, while reducing the rate of injuries on what had been the game’s most dangerous play.

The rule made kickoffs more like scrimmage plays by placing the coverage players and blockers close together to eliminate the high-speed collisions that had contributed to so many injuries on the play. The league said the rate of concussions dropped 43% on returns, with a significant reduction as well in lower-body injuries.

The problem last season was many teams still opted to kick the ball in the end zone because the touchback wasn’t punitive enough. The average starting field position on a touchback was only 2.4 yards further than the average starting position after returns, which was the 27.6-yard line.

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By moving the touchback to the 35, the league projects that the return rate will rise to somewhere between 60% and 70%, with a similar increase in long returns, adding more excitement to the game.

The league also approved a small tweak to how blockers on the return team are allowed to line up in the setup zone that could lead to longer returns.

Teams returned just over 76% of kicks in the preseason, up from 70% in the 2024 preseason. But that number typically drops in the regular season when teams don’t use kickoffs to evaluate players for spots at the end of the roster.

How about onside kicks?

Teams will still need to declare their intention to try an onside kick because of the different formation. But a new change will allow trailing teams to try one before the start of the fourth quarter after Kansas City had to kick deep while down 28 points in the final minute of the third quarter in the Super Bowl.

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Coverage players will also be allowed to line up one yard closer in hopes of increasing the rate of recovery from about 6% over the past three seasons to at least 10%.

How will overtime change?

The league approved a proposal to make the regular season overtime more like the postseason, with both teams getting a chance at a possession, even if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown.

The NFL added regular season overtime in 1974, adding a 15-minute sudden death period that ended on any score. In 2010, the rule was tweaked to a modified sudden death that required an opening possession touchdown to immediately end the game instead of only a field goal. That was in effect in both the regular season and the playoffs.

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Overtime then was shortened for the regular season to only 10 minutes in 2017. A rule change in 2022 for the playoffs only gave both teams the chance to score even with a touchdown on the opening possession.

Now that will be the case in the regular season, after the improved field position on kickoffs made winning in OT on an opening possession TD easier.

According to Sportradar, six of the 16 overtime games last season ended on an opening-drive TD for the most overtime games ended on the first drive since the rule change went into effect in 2010.

In all, teams that won the overtime toss won 75% of the time last season, according to Sportradar, and have a .606 winning percentage in overtime since it was cut to 10 minutes.

The league kept the 10-minute overtime period instead of expanding it back to 15 minutes like was originally proposed by Philadelphia, which could lead to teams opting to go for 2 and a win if they match an opening-drive TD with one of their own since there might not be time for another possession.

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Replay assist

The NFL expanded its replay assist system to overturn objective calls if there was “clear and obvious” evidence that a foul didn’t occur. The calls could include facemask penalties, whether there was forcible contact to the head or neck area, horse-collar tackles and tripping. Replay also would be able to overturn a roughing-the-kicker or running-into-the-kicker penalty if video showed the defender made contact with the ball.

The league has been using replay assist in recent years to overturn obvious errors on aspects like whether a pass is caught or where the ball should be spotted without the referee needing to stop the game for a review.

The Competition Committee says there’s no interest in allowing replay assists to call penalties on plays missed by officials on the field.

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Other changes

Referees will no longer use the chains to determine first downs, opting instead for a virtual measuring system. This won’t eliminate the officials who manually spot the ball and use chains to mark the line to gain.

The Hawk-Eye system consists of six 8K cameras for optical tracking of the position of the ball with the result shown on stadium scoreboards. The league estimates that measurements will take about 30 seconds — about 40 seconds fewer than the average with the chains — although it took longer at times in the preseason.

The league is also emphasizing sportsmanship and cracking down on violent and sexually suggestive gestures this season.

In April, the NFL expanded prohibited acts to include banning the “nose wipe” gesture that league executive Troy Vincent said is affiliated with gangs.

The unsportsmanlike conduct rule now states: “any violent gesture, which shall include but not be limited to a throat slash, simulating firing or brandishing a gun, or using the ‘nose wipe’ gesture, or an act that is sexually suggestive or offensive.”

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