For the second time this offseason, the Detroit Lions’ proposal to dramatically restructure NFL playoff seeding has failed to gather enough momentum.
The Lions on Wednesday reportedly withdrew a bylaw proposal to seed playoff teams 1-7 by record instead of giving division winners the top four seeds, a format that’s been in place since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
Under the proposed format, which was set to be voted on Wednesday at the NFL’s annual spring meetings in Minneapolis, each conference’s playoff would have still consisted of four division winners and three wild-card teams. However, those seven teams would have been seeded by record, with reseeding to be done after each round. If two teams had the same record, the tiebreaker would first go to the division winner (rather than head-to-head matchups).
The bylaw would have required 24 votes to pass.
The NFL Network and ESPN first reported that the bid had been withdrawn.
The Lions’ proposal was initially set to be voted on — but was eventually tabled — at the NFL’s annual league meetings in March. It was there that Lions president and CEO Rod Wood revealed the league actually approached Detroit about making the proposal after comments from wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown went viral on social media ahead of Detroit’s Week 18 winner-take-all matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota was forced to go on the road in the first round of the playoffs despite a 14-3 regular season record after losing to Detroit in the finale, 31-9.
“I think the rule should be changed … having a 14-win team having to go on the road is kind of crazy,” St. Brown said ahead of the Week 18 matchup.
According to Wood, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent saw St. Brown’s comments and “reached out to (Wood) and said, ‘I tend to agree with him. Would you mind partnering us with a proposal on that?’”
Among the reasons for the rule change listed in Detroit’s original proposal were “competitive equity. Provides excitement and competition in late-season games. Rewards the best-performing teams from the regular season.”
One of the more frequent reasons cited for not supporting the change at the annual league meetings in March was to maintain the importance of winning the division.
“Every six years this topic comes up,” Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton said. “We will be talking about this six years from now, hopefully. … I think winning the division’s important. I like how our playoff format is laid out, especially compared to any other sport. Again, this is the third go-around of this topic (in my time), and it’ll continue to repeat itself, but I think we would vote against reseeding.”
If the Lions want to host a home game next season, they’ll have to come out on top in the NFC North meat grinder once again.
#### ‘Tush push’ vote comes down to the wire
The NFL has reportedly voted not to ban the “tush push,” a rugby-style play made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles. In it, the quarterback sneaks the ball while being aided by a host of teammates pushing him across the line of scrimmage.
This proposal was also initially discussed in March but was tabled for this week’s spring meetings in Minneapolis. Under the proposal, offensive players “pushing, pulling, lifting or assisting” their teammates in any manner would have been penalized.
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, 22 teams voted to ban the play, just shy of the 24 needed to implement the change.
While it’s unclear how Detroit’s ownership group voted, Lions coach Dan Campbell said in March that he was against banning the play. The Lions play at Philadelphia on Sunday Night Football in Week 11.
“Philly’s obviously known for this because they’re the ones who’ve really kind of perfected it and done it and do it over and over, and I’m like, ‘Hey, good for them, man,’” Campbell said. “If you got something, we gotta stop it. So to me, leave it in. We play them this year, we gotta find a way to stop it. I like that.”
#### Onside kick rules altered
The NFL made at least one tweak to the 2025 playing rules, passing a proposal to change the onside kick rules in various ways.
The most notable change is allowing teams to attempt an onside kick at any time, rather than just the fourth quarter, which went into effect following a major overhaul to the kickoff last season. Kicking teams can now line up 1 yard closer to the receiving area, which aims to make recovering an onside kick more achievable.
Onside kicks had a success rate of just 6% last season.