NFL owners vote unanimously to change catch rule

The NFL owners have announced a change to the rule book on the highly-debated catch rule on Tuesday. Along with the change to catch rule, there were several other changes to the NFL rules for the 2018 season. Below are the Approved 2018 Playing Rules along with the Approved 2018 Bylaws.

The new catch rules make in unnecessary to maintain possession of the ball through the process of the catch. In the past, the player attempting to catch the ball had to maintain possession through the process of the catch.

One of the other rules that the NFL has decided to change grants authority to senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron to eject players for non-football acts. This rule change gives Riveron the ability overrule referees on the field as well.

All of these rule changes will be implemented for the 2018 season.