NFL Competition Committee to Consider Adding Roughing the Passer to Reviewable Penalties

The NFL competition committee is going to address the idea of adding roughing the passer penalties to the list of items that are subject to instant replay review during its offseason rules reviews.

During the committee’s first day of meetings at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis on Sunday, at least one team proposed the change, according to a report by Judy Battista of NFL.com.

NFL Competition Comm. wrapped up first day of meetings at the Combine. One team has proposed making roughing the passer reviewable by replay. Committee will discuss tomorrow, early indication is little appetite in the room for making it reviewable.

— Judy Battista (@judybattista) February 26, 2023

According to Battista, the measure is not expected to carry the support of the committee, which reviewed 80 players over the last season and came up with only three that it found questionable.

The current replay review process do not allow for any calls that are judgment calls by the officials to be reviewed, including holding and pass interference. The league experimented with allowing for pass interference challenges, a change that ended extremely quickly after unpopular results.

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin sits on the committee. He was fined in 2018 for criticizing officials after a roughing the passer went against Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt in a game against the Atlanta Falcons

“We’ve gotta get better as a National Football League,” he said. “These penalties are costing people games and jobs. We’ve gotta get them correct. So I’m pissed about it, to be quite honest with you, but that’s all I’m gonna say on it.”

The committee does not have full say in the matter, as the issue will go to a vote of the league owners during their meeting in March, unless the proposal is withdrawn by the club that put it forward.

Other times expected to be on the committee’s agenda this week are the “tush push” quarterback sneaks popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles, the calling of personal fouls on sideline out of bounds hits, playing surfaces and the continued study of the impacts of the popularity of hip drop tackles.

The committee has attempted to balance rule changes between the health and safety of players, particularly quarterbacks, and the ability of offensive players to perform their duties unimpeded. League-wide, scoring was down to 43.8 points per game in 2022, the lowest in five years.