April 03, 2024
Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA TODAY Sports
Nick Sirianni will have a bunch of new rules to argue with the officials.
At the 2024 NFL owners meetings in Orlando a week ago, the NFL made 12 rule changes. The four most noteworthy changes, in my opinion, were as follows:
Let's review each of the changes, and how they might positively or negatively affect the Eagles.
In recent years I've always found kickoffs amusing. Like at the Linc for example, after a week of buildup and hype, sorting through matchups to watch, injury reports, scheme vs. scheme analysis, the tailgates, etc., each team lines up for the opening kick and the Rocky theme song is blasted throughout the stadium. One might even get a chill as the opening kick is booted away. And then it sails harmlessly through the back of the end zone, and we don't see another play for like 40 seconds, lol. Kickoffs have basically become a waste of time.
The NFL had to do something about it, and they went the drastic route. Here's a succinct explanation of the new rules:
Kickoff returners will now have heightened importance, which in the the case of the Eagles begs the question, "Who will be their kick returner?"
In 2023 it was Boston Scott, and he only got 8 opportunities to return kicks. Maybe Scott will be back, maybe he won't 🤷♂️. Isaiah Rodgers was the Colts' primary kick returner from 2020-2022, and he averaged a pretty good 27.0 yards per return over that span. And then there's Britain Covey, who will return as the Eagles' punt returner in 2024. Maybe he'll get a shot to return kicks?
I've also seen it suggested that Saquon Barkley could do it. He was an explosive kick returner at Penn State, but even the Giants weren't dumb enough to have him return kicks in the pros. With kickoffs being less dangerous now, if they prove to be high leverage plays, maybe Barkley would make some sense?
Is this rule good or bad for the Eagles?
Well, we don't even know who their kick returner will be, so it's probably not much of a benefit to them in the short-term.
First of all, what is a hip drop tackle? The short-short version is that it's when a defender wraps up a ballcarrier from the side or from behind, and then will become dead weight, with the tackler often lifting their legs off the ground so that their dead weight becomes even heavier. The NFL showed some examples at the owners meetings:
So what is the now banned hip drop tackle? The NFL put together a video montage. pic.twitter.com/Fc5wLl8xDh
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) March 25, 2024
Here’s what happened to Eagles WR AJ Brown: https://t.co/wQWZ51kDoP pic.twitter.com/e6Wwj5EaLi
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulli) January 7, 2024
That was a less egregious version of a hip drop tackle, but a hip drop tackle nevertheless.
Is this rule good or bad for the Eagles?
I'm not looking forward to arguing with people on Twitter about what is and isn't a hip drop tackle, but I think it's a rule that is good for the Eagles, since they have a number of star skill position players as well as a running quarterback. If this rule keeps them safer, that's a good thing.
Previously, it was the Tuesday after the Week 8 games.
Is this rule good or bad for the Eagles?
Howie Roseman typically makes at least one trade deadline deal every year, and the added week will perhaps widen the number of teams who have given up on the season and will become sellers. Howie will certainly appreciate that. They really should have gone further with this rule change, extending it to like Week 10 or 11, but whatever. Baby steps, I guess.
In 2024, it's maybe noteworthy that the deadline will also be on Election Day. It's going to be hard conjuring up enthusiasm to write about whatever cooked edge rusher Howie acquires while I'm googling "quality of life in New Zealand" and worrying about the end of democracy in America.
Previously, you had to win two challenges to earn a third challenge.
There are so many plays that are automatically challenged these days that I can't remember the last time I was watching a game where a team ran out of challenges and some bad call occurred and that team was left powerless to do anything about it.
Is this rule good or bad for the Eagles?
For some reason, teams remain apprehensive about challenging plays if they don't know for sure if it was the wrong call, when in reality challenges aren't anywhere near as valuable as they used to be. I mean, sure, if you lose the challenge you lose a timeout, but if it's a high leverage play that could swing a game, losing the timeout is often a risk worth taking.
Take the Eagles-49ers NFC Championship Game, for example. It should have been a no-brainer for Kyle Shanahan to throw the challenge flag on the DeVonta Smith catch (or no-catch or whatever), given that it was a fourth down play and was going to be a tangible point swing on the scoreboard. The Eagles rushed to the line, he idiotically didn't challenge it, and it cost him big time.
With this new rule, teams may be a little more willing to challenge close plays if they don't know for sure whether they'll win the challenge or not. So I think this is actually a rule that disfavors the Eagles.
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