NFL rules: changes and impact for 2024 season

The NFL announced changes to three parts of the game that could have a major impact on the 2024 season. We’ll take a look at what the adjustments were, and how they could alter the action on the field next season.

The NFL took swift action to ban the hip-drop tackle ahead of the 2024 campaign, which was a method of bringing offensive players down that was viewed as dangerous to player safety.

USA Today helped define the tackle for football fans. The defensive player approaches a ball-carrier from the side or from behind, and wraps his arms around the offensive player. In doing so, the defender becomes dead weight as both players go to the ground, and that weight often lands on an offensive player’s leg.

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Baltimore Ravens star tight end Mark Andrews had his fibula fractured and sustained ligament damage to his ankle on a hip-drop tackle during the 2023 campaign. Former Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard had his leg broken from a hip-drop tackle in a January 2023 postseason game against the San Francisco 49ers.

As one might expect, defensive players were not thrilled by the rule change. Former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt said on X “Just fast forward to the belts with flags on them.” Current Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland posted on X “Breaking news: tackling banned.”

The reaction speaks to the predicament defenders will find themselves in if they are trailing an offensive player. They won’t be allowed to bring down players via the hip-drop, and must also be careful to not draw a penalty for a horse-collar tackle. It will be intriguing to see if defenders give up on plays they might not have otherwise stopped on.

Perhaps the offseason was not a complete loss for defensive NFL players. Roughing the passer penalties will now be included as part of the scope of plays that can be reviewed by replay.

NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero reported that the replay official will be permitted to correct “certain types” of incorrect calls for roughing the passer. Pelissero noted that the calls must be purely objective, in situations where a quarterback wasn’t clearly hit in the head, or where he was clearly outside the pocket.

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Nearly every season, it’s been commonplace to see stories written about NFL players bemoaning roughing the passer calls that felt iffy at best. Bleacher Report and AP News wrote about this in 2022, and The Washington Post penned a piece about it in 2018. Even Tom Brady has chimed in from time to time, backing defenders that feel that the league has gone too far with the rule.

It's fair to wonder whether the added recourse to review roughing the passer will actually result in changes to incorrect calls. The NFL decided to allow pass interference penalties to be reviewable for one season, which ESPN called a half-baked idea. Sports Illustrated noted that just 13 of 81 pass interference challenges were successful in 2019.

It was also reported by Pelissero that the replay assistant will now be able to review egregious intentional grounding penalties. Intentional grounding is a concerted effort by a quarterback to get rid of the ball to avoid being taken down for a sack while inside the pocket. The ball must also land in the vicinity of an eligible receiver, and must pass the line of scrimmage.

NFL kickoffs will look a lot different in the 2024 season. According to NBC Sports, players on the kicking team will line up 25 yards in front of their kicker, who will kick off from the 35-yard line. A minimum of nine players from the receiving team must line up between their own 30 and 35-yard line.

The play starts when a kickoff is fielded in the landing zone (defined as 20 yards before the goal line), the ball hits the ground in that landing zone, or is fielded in the end zone and returned. Any kick that ends up in the landing zone has to be returned.

Additionally, there will no longer be surprise onside kicks. All attempts of this nature must be declared in advance to officials.

The kickoff adjustment was passed by owners with a 29-3 vote, according to the Star Tribune. This is the format that the XFL has used in recent seasons.

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