One of the matters on the agenda for the 2023 NFL Annual Meeting in Arizona this week was the consideration of a list of proposed changes to the league’s playing rules, procedures and bylaws. There were a total of 17 rule change proposals, five bylaw proposals and four resolution proposals regarding issues such as injury report structure and preseason roster cuts. In the end, the NFL’s owners voted to approve nine changes to the rules, three new bylaws and three resolutions.
All of the proposed changes were submitted by either the influential Competition Committee or one or more of the NFL’s 32 teams. Among the more high-profile proposals that did not pass were the substitution of one fourth-and-20 play for an onside kick (by Philadelphia); the making of roughing-the-passer penalties reviewable (by the L.A. Rams); and the adoption of the NCAA-style rule on kickoffs wherein a fair catch inside the 25-yard line counts as a touchback, placing the ball at the 25.
There were also a number of dry procedural changes that won’t register with the average fan during football season. For instance, the claiming period for players waived on the Friday and Saturday of the last week of the regular season has been extended to the following Monday. You can wow your friends with that scintillating tidbit next January, if you remember it that long.
There are, however, a handful of changes that will noticeably affect how we watch games or follow our team’s preparations. Here are four of them:
1. Players can now wear number zero (0).
The NFL has relaxed a lot of its former rules about which player positions can wear jerseys in which number ranges in the last few years. Now they’ve added another option for the majority of players: Zero.
Every player who was previously eligible to wear numbers in the 1-19 range ā which, thanks to recent revisions, now includes everyone except offensive and defensive linemen ā can now also pull on a very eye-catching “0” jersey. Many players across the league will soon be making history for their respective franchises as the first to play in a zero jersey.
In Buccaneer history, the jersey number that has been worn by the fewest number of players is 63. That was given to future Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon after he was drafted first overall in Tampa Bay’s inaugural 1976 season. He wore it for nine seasons (including the last one spent on injured reserve) and then it was retired by the team and thus never donned again. Now, however,…
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