According to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, the NFL is “open to discussing” the idea of throwing penalty flags after replay review for specific types of penalties. This rule change could be decided on as early as this spring for the 2026 regular season.
Per Jones, a post-play penalty flag would have to be “related to player health and safety,” a more limited set of penalties than the full menu of options. This, to me, seems like a clear response to the NFL’s terrible record with hip-drop tackles.
Over the last two regular seasons, there have been over 60 fines for hip-drop tackles, but only three penalty flags have been thrown. For whatever reason, the league thought it was a smart idea to legislate that play on the following Saturday, when the NFL announces its fines, rather than during game action. They learned a hard lesson: The fines don’t dissuade the players as much as penalties do, and the fans couldn’t give a damn if the opposing team was fined when their team got screwed in a loss. It’s just too small a price to pay for a victory.
”The league heard from teams that wish the tackle, which can end a player’s season with a lower-extremity injury, would be punished in real time rather than with a fine a week later.”
No crap. I could have told you that two years ago.
Jones listed the following plays as examples of penalties that relate to player health and safety: facemask, unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer, use of helmet and hip-drop tackles.
The NFL has an officiating problem. It has for years and years and years. Jones admitted that if you could review any penalty, there would probably be a flag thrown on every play of an NFL game. What is or isn’t considered a flag-worthy isn’t consistently applied even within a single game, let alone from crew to crew and week to week. And in those post-game pool reports, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ref admit that his crew got a call wrong. They’ll always go down with the ship if given the opportunity.
It’s nice for teams to have an in-game check against officials. They certainly deserve to be knocked down a peg. I’d support this rule change. It doesn’t fix the underlying officiating issue in this league, though.
