There are a number of NFL rules players must abide by. And, if they were given the opportunity to express themselves, many players would push back on some of those rules. So, we opened that door and allowed them to vent their frustrations to The Athletic as part of our anonymous NFL player poll.
Our writers spoke to 85 players for the poll and 78 weighed in on which rule they would most like to see changed. The results? Well, the players listed 19 different things.
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The one that received the most votes (19.2 percent) was roughing the passer — a controversial one among fans, too. While the league has tried to create some consistency with the call, it’s one that seems subjective to the referees assigned to each respective game. At least, that’s how the players feel.
“Make the roughing the passer enforcement more consistent,” one player said. “Certain quarterbacks they don’t call it for. Other quarterbacks get the calls all the time. It is ridiculous.”
Another player’s response: “Roughing the passer. I think quarterbacks should get smacked.”
It wasn’t just defensive players supporting the change, either. One offensive player said he understands protecting the quarterback, but said the league has gotten out of hand with how often the penalty is called in today’s game.
“I feel like there are so many where it doesn’t need to be called,” he said. “Obviously, you want to protect the QBs, but there’s so many (roughing the passer penalties). I feel like (sometimes) it’s a normal play and they (still) call it.”
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Another penalty that drew a lot of criticism from players was pass interference/illegal contact, which received 15.4 percent of the vote. One player said the league should “make pass interference calls reviewable. Too many bad calls on PIs in critical moments.”
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Another player agreed that it should be a reviewable play: “I wish you could challenge pass interference calls. So, if you’re on defense, you can challenge it too, and say it wasn’t PI. But if you’re on offense, you can challenge it, like, ‘Hey, he pulled my helmet!’”
A defensive player voiced his opinion of the rule: “Receivers can’t touch us either. After 5 yards, they can’t put their hands on us and we can’t put our hands on them,” he said. “If that’s going to be the rule for us, they can’t do it either.”
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One player said the NFL should take a page out of the college rulebook and modify the defensive pass interference call from being a spot foul. “They should change it to 15 yards,” he said.
Players also don’t love the NFL’s uniform restrictions, which lead to a lot of fines. Many players would like more freedom to wear the type of cleats, socks and undershirts they prefer.
“I don’t like the uniform stuff,” one player said. “I think they should just let us wear whatever. Just let us express ourselves.”
The uniform regulations also received 15.4 percent of the vote.
“We always got to have our skin covered,” a player said. “I don’t know why we got to do that.”
“I hate wearing tights,” another player noted, “but you have to because you have to cover your legs.”
And speaking of fines, a defensive player wasn’t as concerned by those who get penalized for uniform mistakes. But he did have this to say: “If a player is coming out there with no socks and s—, we can’t help stupid. But when it comes to a player just trying to get a block and there just happen to be helmets f—ing touching and they get fined? No flags and he’s getting fined 40-some thousand for it? That type of s— has got to go.”
The targeting penalty, which received 9 percent of the vote and has become a big issue in today’s NFL, is another call that can lead to hefty fines. “People don’t understand how hard it is to avoid some of these collisions,” one player said. “I get calling a penalty, but the fines and ejections are too much.”
Said another: “I’m not a big fan of targeting. I think it slows the game down. It overcomplicates the game. If you don’t wanna get hit, go do something else. I know it can mess people up, but you know what you’re signing up for. You can’t take everything out of the game.”
Offensive holding is a common penalty that frustrates everyone from players to coaches to fans. It’s another call that can change a game’s trajectory and also one that can be subjective.
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“It’s stupid that it’s a 10-yard penalty,” one player said. “I know why it’s a 10-yard penalty, but it’s an absolute drive-killer. And it happens every play but they don’t call it (every time). It’s the NFL’s way of trying to get guys to not hold because it’s a huge penalty.”
Other rules that multiple players mentioned as those they wanted to change: cut-blocking and crackback block penalties, the new fair catch on kickoffs rule, and the fumbling in the end zone rule that leads to a touchback.
To just keep it simple, said one player, teams “should be able to challenge (all) penalties.”
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(Top photos: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images and Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)
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