The annual NFL League Meeting begins on Sunday, March 30, at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Fla., and carry into Wednesday evening, April 2 as all 32 NFL owners descend on South Florida to vote on potential rule changes and propose ideas within the competition committee.
One of the leaders of that committee is Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, who serves as a co-chairman of the 10-person group along with Atlanta Falcons CEO Rick McKay. The other eight members include Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch among others.
Last offseason, the competition committee made some noise with the addition of the dynamic kickoff rule. After a successful 2024 season under the new guidelines, the committee is prepared to keep it in place in 2025 with a couple of slight revisions. One of those potential revisions, if approved, would have touchbacks that go into the end zone bring the ball out to the 35-yard line instead of the 30-yard line in an effort to encourage even more returns.
Ban the Tush Push?
In one of the more notable rule change proposals, the Green Bay Packers have proposed the banning of the “Tush Push” made popular by the Philadelphia Eagles. On Friday morning, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that there is momentum toward that happening.
The Detroit Lions have proposed the elimination of automatic first downs on defensive illegal contact and defensive holding penalties. Both carry a five and ten-yard penalty, respectively, along with an automatic moving of the chains.
The Philadelphia Eagles have proposed to carry the postseason overtime rules into the regular season beginning in 2025. As the current rules stand, a touchdown in an overtime period in the regular season ends the game. In the postseason, a touchdown on the opening drive can be answered by the opposing team, giving both teams a chance to score.
Playoff seeding change?
A big change in playoff seeding is being proposed, although it has a long shot at being approved. The proposal would give wild card teams a higher seed than division winners if they finish the season with a better record, giving them home-field advantage in playoff games against any team with a lesser record. This became a topic of interest in the NFC playoffs in 2024 when the Minnesota Vikings (13-4), Washington Commanders (12-5) Green Bay Packers (11-6) all had better records than two division-winning teams in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-7) and Los Angeles Rams (10-7). As a result, all three teams had to play on the road in the wild card round, with only the Commanders advancing to the divisional round.
Along with voting on these proposals, the league meeting will also feature all 32 NFL head coaches meeting with the media on Monday and Tuesday. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer is scheduled to speak on Tuesday morning. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones is also expected to meet with the media in South Florida.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.