NFL Adopts New Rules & Bylaws For 2024

Hey everyone, TC here,

Are you a new subscriber to Cap & Trade Newsletter, welcome! This newsletter covers the NFL salary cap and news across the league with additional coverage of the Houston Texans. I have been covering the Houston Texans since 2012, and 2017 as credentialed media and have been working at OverTheCap.com for the past 8 years. I hope you find this newsletter informative and digestible. I subscribe to many paywall-type websites for data sourcing and aggregation, but I'm always searching for more sources. While this newsletter remains free, you can activate a paid subscription to assist in making this newsletter even better:

During this week’s NFL owners’ meetings, a slew of playing rules and bylaw changes were voted on and adopted for the 2024 league year. I wanted to provide my thoughts on a few of those changes. I won’t cover all the changes, but I will highlight a few of particular interest to me.

For the full set of changes visit here.

New Kick Off

I love this change. The new kickoff setup has been adopted from the XFL league. The return rate with this new system is drastically higher while continuing to lower collision injury rates. Additionally, the changes will bring in new return concepts similar to run concepts used across the league. Do not be surprised to see the advent of two returners with some trick reverses used. Special Teams Coordinators have a lot of work ahead of them.

This could also bring an adjustment to roster construction. The need for speedy gunners for punt coverage will continue. For kickoff coverage, teams may look for bigger linebacker-type players to break through at the point of contact during the kickoff returns.

Eric Galko put together a detailed thread on X with the new kickoff return system here.

Trade Deadline Change

The trade deadline has been moved back one week to the Tuesday after Week 9 of the regular season. This move accounts for the season adjustment from 17 weeks to 18 weeks (17 games). I would have liked to see the trade deadline moved back to Week 10, but this is a positive move.

Historically the trade deadline in the NFL has seen minimal action compared to the NBA and MLB. In the past few years, with the introduction of younger General Managers, the trade deadline has seen a modest increase in action.

The majority of teams will still be in the hunt for a playoff spot through Week 9. Shifting the trade deadline should not encourage any type of “tanking”.

Moving back to Week 9 may not spur more action but this is a step in the correct direction.

Injured Reserved - Designated to Return Change

This specific bylaw change is probably my favorite. The change now allows teams to move, up to two (2) players, to injured reserve during the final roster reduction to 53 players while still maintaining eligibility to return during the season.

Previously teams would be required to carry players intended for injured reserve return onto the initial 53-man roster and then process the move to injured reserve the following day.

This process would require teams to complete roster gymnastics by releasing players only to re-sign that same player two days later to accommodate the injured player.

With this bylaw change teams can now place two players onto Injured Reserve during the 53-man roster reduction process.

Emergency Quarterback Elevations

This change in the bylaw will allow teams to use a standard practice squad elevation for a true quarterback each week of the season without limiting the number of times done.

The standard practice squad elevation can only be used three (3) times for a player during the season. This will still apply. The unlimited use will apply only to quarterbacks.

This change could lead to roster construction changes. Most teams carry just two quarterbacks on their 53-man roster and an additional quarterback on the practice squad. Some teams, like the Houston Texans, elected to carry three (3) quarterbacks on the 53-man roster and use the emergency quarterback option as part of the inactive gameday list.

Teams must decide if they plan to use one (1) of their two (2) gameday standard elevations on an emergency quarterback or carry the third quarterback on the 53-man roster utilizing the emergency option from the inactive gameday list.

Thanks for reading and the continued support!

-TC