The NFL will discuss using video review to assess penalties for player safety-related violations that are missed by officials, the league said Friday.
Non-calls are currently not reviewable, but penalties such as grabbing the facemask, unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer and hip-drop tackles could be subject to review. It will be an offseason topic for the NFL competition committee.
“I would just say from a player health and safety perspective, we would like to introduce all and any opportunity and options for either putting a flag on the field or any way to try to address this in-game,” NFL head of football operations Dawn Aponte said in a conference call with reporters.
Facemask penalties have been among the most obvious violations that officials have missed. It would be a significant but not unprecedented change for the NFL. The league made pass interference reviewable in 2019, but it proved unpopular and was scrapped after one season.
“It’s a newer conversation,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president in charge of player safety. “We need to decrease to the extent we can, or improve safety, and one of the ways is to address what happens on field. However we go about doing that is something we’ll talk to the committee about.”
Aponte said the league issued 30 fines for hip-drop tackles, which put players in danger of sustaining severe knee and ankle injuries. Officials threw just two flags for that tackle, and Aponte said one was an incorrect call and therefore didn’t result in a fine.
Concussions on kickoffs
Concussions on kickoffs are up sharply because of a significantly higher number of returns while the rate of head injuries remains lower than it was before a change in the rules that was designed to make the kickoff safer, officials said.
There were 35 concussions on kickoffs in 2025 compared to eight a year ago, but moving the touchback to the 35-yard line resulted in 1,157 more returns. The kick return rate jumped to 74% from 33% last season, and it was the highest return rate in 15 years.
While the league is encouraged that the concussion, and overall injury, rate is lower than previous kickoffs, when the coverage team had a running start compared to the standing start of the new rule, Miller said concussions would still be a focal point of conversations in the offseason.
“For 20 of the 22 players on the kickoff this year, we saw a decreased injury rate, decreased concussion rates, decreased lower extremity rates,” Miller said. “But we did see concussions to the tackler and to the ball-carrier. And so we started the conversation with the competition committee already to take a look at those impacts, to take a look at the formation and structure and the speeds of the play and see if there are ways to address those.”
The shell of the helmet has become better at protecting players from concussions but the facemask has not, Miller said. He estimated that half of concussions come from blows to the facemask.
“If a significant number of concussions on field … are a result of blows to the facemask, then we need take a look at the facemasks,” Miller said. “There’s got to be a better way to do this.”
Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, reiterated his belief that coaching technique plays a role in protecting against concussions as well.
“We are on an unending and relentless quest to get the head out of the game,” Sills said. “And that is going to be our most effective strategy for reducing concussions, whether we’re talking about the kickoff or any other part of the game.”
Major knee injuries decline
Miller said the number of torn anterior cruciate ligaments in knees was down 25% and reached a seven-year low. He said the number of games missed to injuries was comparable to the previous couple of seasons despite the sharp increase in kickoff returns.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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