The NFL is considering a significant shift in how player safety-related penalties are handled, potentially allowing video review for missed calls as early as next season.
Reviewing the Unseen: NFL Considers Video Review for Player Safety
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The league is exploring options to address missed calls on crucial penalties like facemasks and hip-drop tackles, aiming to enhance player protection.
- The NFL competition committee will discuss reviewing penalties related to player safety that officials miss.
- Non-calls would remain unreviewable, but penalties like facemasks, roughing the passer, and hip-drop tackles are under consideration.
- Kickoff concussions have risen sharply with rule changes designed to increase player safety.
- The number of torn ACLs is down 25%, reaching a seven-year low.
The potential change, announced Friday, would address a long-standing frustration: obvious penalties, particularly those impacting player safety, going uncalled. “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,” said NFL head of football operations Dawn Aponte during a conference call with reporters. The league previously experimented with pass interference review in 2019, but scrapped the rule after just one season due to its unpopularity.
Facemask penalties have consistently been cited as a prime example of missed calls. Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president in charge of player safety, emphasized the need for improvement. “It’s a newer conversation,” Miller said. “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.”
Kickoffs Under Scrutiny
While the NFL implemented rule changes to enhance kickoff safety, the number of concussions on kickoffs has actually increased. There were 35 concussions on kickoffs in 2025, a stark rise from the eight recorded the previous year. This increase coincides with a significant jump in kickoff returns – 1,157 more returns than last season, bringing the return rate to 74% from 33%.
Despite the rise in kickoff concussions, the overall injury rate remains lower than before the rule changes, which moved the touchback to the 35-yard line. Miller noted that for 20 of the 22 players on the kickoff team, injury rates, concussion rates, and lower extremity injuries have decreased. However, concussions involving the tackler and ball-carrier remain a concern. “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,” he said.
The league is also focusing on helmet technology, with Miller pointing out that while the shell of the helmet offers improved concussion protection, the facemask does not. He estimated that approximately half of all concussions result 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 stated. “There’s got to be a better way to do this.”
Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, underscored the importance of proper coaching technique in preventing concussions. “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.”
Positive Trends in Knee Injuries
There’s some good news on the injury front: the number of torn anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) in knees has decreased by 25%, reaching a seven-year low. Miller also reported that the number of games missed due to injuries remained comparable to the previous two seasons, despite the increase in kickoff returns.
