NFL Will Let Coaches Designate a Staffer to Initiate Replay Challenges
The tweak, added to the rule book without an owners' vote, allows a sideline staff member to throw the red flag instead of requiring the head coach to do it personally.
The NFL will allow head coaches to designate a member of their sideline staff to initiate replay challenges starting this season, a change to Rule 15, Section 1, Article 1(a) of the league's rule book.
What does the rule actually say?
The updated language reads: "The head coach or head coach's pregame challenge designee can initiate a challenge by throwing a red flag onto the field of play before the next legal snap or kick." A coach who wants to use a designee has to inform officials before the game starts.
How did this get added?
The change wasn't put to a vote at the NFL's annual owners' meeting. It was folded in as one of the routine adjustments the league makes each summer while finalizing the rule book, the kind of tweak that doesn't require ownership approval.
Why make the change?
Some coaches have acknowledged throwing challenge flags for emotional reasons in the heat of the moment rather than clear strategic ones. Letting a coach hand that decision to a designated staffer is meant to add a layer of judgment before a challenge, which costs a timeout if it fails, gets thrown.
Sources
- ESPN: NFL to allow coach's designee to initiate replay challenges
