NFL 2017: New Rule Changes for the Upcoming Season
The National Football League announced the adoption of several new rules, bylaws and along with that a resolution which is to be put in effect for this year 2017. Every spring the NFL owners meet up to discuss the future of the league. They get together to discuss to set NFL policy for 2017 and beyond. We have seen new rules coming after the meeting held in Phoenix.
The player safety, celebration, roster flexibility, and game efficiency were the primary areas touched by the newly adopted rules and bylaws to be applied for the NFL 2017 season which was discussed and approved at the annual league meetings in Phoenix.
So let’s have a closer look at what you will see differently in 2017.
photo Jeffrey Beall via wikimedia commons
Celebrations
The fans just go hoo-ha over the celebrations. They just can’t get enough of it. Even the players love celebrations a lot. So I guess pretty much everybody just loves celebrations.
After detailed discussions with players, coaches, officials, teams, and fans, the NFL is planning to relax on their celebration rules. They want to give more room for the NFL players to have fun after they make big plays. Every player loves to express spontaneous display of emotions which follows after a spectacular touchdown. So players have shown that they need more freedom to express themselves and be able to celebrate their athletic achievements.
The players care a lot about sportsmanship and clean competition. So to set an example for young athletes, offensive demonstration (the infamous ‘twerking’), prolonged celebrations which delay the game and those which are directed at the opponent will be penalized. Be prepared and book your NFL Tickets without service fee for the attractive games and player celebrations of the new season.
Overtime
There is also a slight modification in overtime. The extra period has been shortened to 10 minutes from 15 minutes. This rule puts player safety first. Some believe that this would lead to a drastic increase in ties, but the NFL assures that it may not be the case as they have researched well.
According to their research, over the past five years, the average overtime session is 7 minutes and 43 seconds. Of which only 22 of 83 games went beyond 10 minutes. Had these rules been effective over that time frame, then there would have been of only 16 total ties with an average of 3.2 per year.
Roster Cutdowns
There was once two cut days where the summer roster gets trimmed before the fourth preseason game from 90 to 75 and then from 75 to 53 within a week later, all the teams from now on will have one cutdown deadline which is from 90 to 53, following the final preseason games. As a result of this change, 15 more players per team will get the last chance to stake claim to the roster spot. This change expects that it can prevent minor injuries to key reserve players as most of the starters do not participate in the final preseason game.
Injured Reserve Rules
In the year 2012, the National Football league allowed every team to tag a player where they were designated to return when they were placed on the reserve-injured list.
But in the previous season, the league changed the rules where the teams were to choose as to which player was indented to bring back after all of them were on IR.
For this year the rules have changed again as the teams can now select not one but two players to return. The rule is that each of these players must be on IR for at least 6 weeks before returning to practice, and they can’t participate in the game until 8 weeks have passed.
This rule thus allows the players who suffer injuries at the start of the season to return for potentially vital games late in the season.
Medical Tents
Roger Goodell, (Commissioner of the National Football League) announced in a press conference that the medical tents would get used on the sidelines for the players. Last year these medical tents were used on the collegiate level, but it changes now.
He says that it is an opportunity for the NFL to have a better examination as it ensures privacy for a short period where the doctors can go ahead and make an appropriate diagnosis.
So let’s wait and see how these changes are going to have an impact in the upcoming NFL season.
Author: Lavina Fernandes
DICON Co-Director Dr. Deverick J. Anderson and Bucs GM Mark Dominik
Image/Video Screen Shot
