https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/15/cfl-board-of-governors-approve-six-rule-adjustments-for-upcoming-season/ (https://www.cfl.ca/2025/05/15/cfl-board-of-governors-approve-six-rule-adjustments-for-upcoming-season/)
TORONTO — The Canadian Football League (CFL) Board of Governors has approved six rules adjustments for the upcoming season. Three are meant to increase player safety, while serving as deterrents for potentially dangerous or reckless acts on the field.
Two modifications remove what can be punitive restrictions, allowing for a potentially spontaneous recovery play to be deemed legal. The final eliminates restrictions when applying the maximum distance of a penalty.
2025 RATIFIED RULES CHANGES
GRADE TWO ROUGHING THE PASSER PENALTY
The 25-yard Grade Two Roughing the Passer penalty has been modified to be called when:
A blow is delivered with the crown of the helmet to the head or neck of the passer, despite having a clear view to contact, and there are no mitigating circumstances, i.e. if the level of the quarterback's helmet changes prior to contact.
A blow is delivered to the knee or below of the passer, despite having a clear view to contact, and there are no mitigating circumstances, i.e. if contact with another player(s) alters what would otherwise be legal contact.
A blow is egregiously late.
AUTOMATIC EJECTIONS
The list of actions that lead to automatic ejections has been expanded. The Rough Play rule will now include:
All low block penalties on kicking plays
Punching actions (open or closed hand) to the head area
LOW HITS ON VULNERABLE RECEIVERS
A penalty has been created to deter low hits on receivers who are not in a position to adequately protect themselves. A 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down will be called when a blow is delivered at or below the knees of a receiver who is in the act of catching a pass, while in a vulnerable position. Should the receiver jump, they will lose low hit protection.
INELIGIBLE RECEIVERS
Once an eligible receiver touches a pass, all players on both teams become eligible to catch the pass.
OFFSIDE PASS
An offside pass is defined as a ball being directed in any manner – other than being kicked – towards the opponent's deadline. The team making the offside pass is not permitted to advance the ball or retain possession beyond the originating point of the pass.
The following plays will no longer be considered offside passes:
If a defending player prevents the ball from going out of bounds, knocks it down or bats it back into the playing area in an offside direction.
Batting a loose ball in any direction following a fumble, a blocked kick, a wild snap, a lateral pass or a kicked ball.
REMOVAL OF RESTRICTED MAJOR PENALTIES
The restriction when applying the maximum distance on all major penalties, misconducts and rough play disqualifications will be removed.
The total distance of the penalty yardage will be applied, to a maximum of the one-yard line.
i.e. Play commences at the 20-yard line and the defending team is assessed a 25-yard Grade Two Roughing the Passer penalty. Rather than being penalized half the distance to the goal, whereby the ensuing play will commence from the 10-yard line, the full distance will be applied to a maximum of the one-yard line, where in this instance, the following play will commence.
Pretty serious player protections with teeth. Especially the removal of half the distance.
I never understood why they restricted major fouls, who cares if its within 30 yds of your goal line!! Like that rule change!!
I like the grade 2 25 yd UR penalty. I still think anything egregious should carry a disqualification as well ie a major blow to the head of a player. A DQ will cut that crap out immediately
I like all the changes, and I don't say that very often. Good work CFL.
The game as we know it will be a penalty infested unentertaining sh*t show the way this is going. Time will tell.
Davis Sanchez re: low hits on vulnerable receivers
Admittedly I hit receivers low the majority of the time in my career..
I still think it is dirty and extremely unsafe. I did it because it was often the best option for a DB my size.
Taking that low hit option away from defenders is a great move for players safety
Quote from: Stats Junkie on May 15, 2025, 08:49:09 PMDavis Sanchez re: low hits on vulnerable receivers
Admittedly I hit receivers low the majority of the time in my career..
I still think it is dirty and extremely unsafe. I did it because it was often the best option for a DB my size.
Taking that low hit option away from defenders is a great move for players safety
Sanchez is right, this is going to have a huge effect as many lighter DB's prefer to submarine opponents when tackling bigger players. Alex Suber was the master.
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on May 15, 2025, 09:05:12 PMSanchez is right, this is going to have a huge effect as many lighter DB's prefer to submarine opponents when tackling bigger players. Alex Suber was the master.
So be it, diving below someone's knee's is a dangerous play and has been banned at the amateur level for decades, it just took the pros a while to get there but this is a good move and will extend guys careers. Guys who can't tackle properly shouldn't be playing the game.
Quote from: GOLDMEMBER on May 15, 2025, 08:36:33 PMThe game as we know it will be a penalty infested unentertaining sh*t show the way this is going. Time will tell.
No it won't, it will be a safer version and the dangerous hits will be penalized more heavily, hopefully removing them from the game, but there's always someone out there who will drill a Qb in the head and think its cool (Sask vs Collaros comes to mind, the guy should have got 25 yds and DQ'd).
The sh*t show, is what's presently going on out there and injuring players/knocking them out of the game. Now, the players guilty of the infraction pay a heavier price, I don't see any downside to this, and wish the 25 yd penalty carried a DQ with it.
Quote from: TBURGESS on May 15, 2025, 06:52:04 PMI like all the changes, and I don't say that very often. Good work CFL.
My exact response.
I don't think I understand the offside pass though. Can anyone offer some clarity?
The way I read it, is if the defending team is attempting to keep a loose/fumbled ball in bounds, he is allowed now to knock it towards the opponents goal line without penalty. I know amateur rule says the ball is dead at point the ball is batted forwards as that's an offside pass, now CFL is saying they can advance a fumbled ball by knocking it forward.
Quote from: dd on May 15, 2025, 05:48:24 PMI never understood why they restricted major fouls, who cares if its within 30 yds of your goal line!! Like that rule change!!
I like the grade 2 25 yd UR penalty. I still think anything egregious should carry a disqualification as well ie a major blow to the head of a player. A DQ will cut that crap out immediately
This is what I really hope for.
Throw a punch at someone's head... your out.
Smash your helmet into someone's head should be the same penalty.
Quote from: GOLDMEMBER on May 15, 2025, 08:36:33 PMThe game as we know it will be a penalty infested unentertaining sh*t show the way this is going. Time will tell.
I don't think this will happen. Players learn pretty quick, or they are on the bench.
Quote from: dd on May 15, 2025, 10:55:37 PMThe way I read it, is if the defending team is attempting to keep a loose/fumbled ball in bounds, he is allowed now to knock it towards the opponents goal line without penalty. I know amateur rule says the ball is dead at point the ball is batted forwards as that's an offside pass, now CFL is saying they can advance a fumbled ball by knocking it forward.
What about "accidentally" hoofing the ball towards the opponent's endzone while attempting to pick up a fumble? The more chaos allowed, the better!
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on May 16, 2025, 12:44:08 AMWhat about "accidentally" hoofing the ball towards the opponent's endzone while attempting to pick up a fumble? The more chaos allowed, the better!
That was legal before: "dribble kick" (or whatever it's called). I faintly recall Willie doing that many years ago for us and we got to keep the extra yardage.
Quote from: dd on May 15, 2025, 10:55:37 PMThe way I read it, is if the defending team is attempting to keep a loose/fumbled ball in bounds, he is allowed now to knock it towards the opponents goal line without penalty.
I think what they did here is equalize the bat-forward kick to the punch. Before it was kind of weird you could move the ball forward with any part of your body except your hands. Remember Meddy kneeing the ball forward in the EZ on his own punt?
So it looks like no matter how a ball is moved forward in a loose-ball situation it will be legal. This probably helps the refs/command more than anything. No one needs to spend 5 mins figuring out if it was a knee or foot or hand hitting it.
This rule will only affect like a couple/few games a season. These situations are rare.
Quote from: Stats Junkie on May 15, 2025, 08:49:09 PMDavis Sanchez re: low hits on vulnerable receivers
Admittedly I hit receivers low the majority of the time in my career..
I still think it is dirty and extremely unsafe. I did it because it was often the best option for a DB my size.
Great for safety, bad for any team that has a lot of small DBs rostered. Straight out of Chez's lips. You don't want to make it so the CFL needs NFL-sized giant DBs just to effect open-field during-catch tackles!!
Are our DBs small? We don't tend to focus on giants. So are we smaller than other teams? What team has the beefiest DBs? They'll be the real winners.
Quote from: GOLDMEMBER on May 15, 2025, 08:36:33 PMThe game as we know it will be a penalty infested unentertaining sh*t show the way this is going. Time will tell.
Not based on these rule changes! These are for the most part no-op rules that will apply maybe once a weekend (with the exception of maybe weeks 1-3 when the DBs get it into their brains).
I would agree for other years and changes, but not this time. Don't sweat these ones.
Quote from: Stats Junkie on May 15, 2025, 04:10:54 PMThe 25-yard Grade Two Roughing the Passer penalty has been modified to be called when:
No real change here. It seems to just be clarification.
I would have liked to see the Brown-on-Zach hit be made illegal. Based on these clarifications, it still won't qualify. Even if you hit just above the knee and slide down it should be a penalty (like Brown did).
I think more importantly they should have penalized any follow-through or lunging/pushing after they've made leg contact. Brown dug his toes in after hitting Zach and gave an extra lunge/push. Just like the NFL disallows "full weight pancake", we should disallow extra weight pushes that are what does the final, worst damage (see also Marino/Masoli hit and Strev's crippling).
Quote from: Stats Junkie on May 15, 2025, 04:10:54 PMAUTOMATIC EJECTIONS
The list of actions that lead to automatic ejections has been expanded. The Rough Play rule will now include:
All low block penalties on kicking plays
Punching actions (open or closed hand) to the head area
I think the
low-block-on-kicks rule is to stop what happened to us one game (was it the '23 GC??) where a team-A guy on the line but outside the box blocked our kick-rusher (Hallett?) low on a FG. I know I whinged about it here at the time. I thought it should be a penalty, but maybe wasn't because it was outside the (tight FG alignment) "box".
Good rule. Maybe happened once a season. Now should happen zero. That block adds nothing to the game.
Punching: I guess we're just adding "open hand" now with this change? That's fine. No need to sit and have command judge if a hand is open or closed or halfway there.
However, I would have liked to see clarification to also include my-hand-is-on-your-helmet-now-I'm-gonna-push-your-head-away pseudo-punch. Sometimes it's hard to tell if that's a punch or not, depending on how long their hand was already on the helmet.
Just make it all illegal. Punch, bye-bye. Push-punch, bye-bye. If your hands are anywhere near a helmet and that head snaps away from it, it's a DQ.
Football isn't hockey.
Quote from: Stats Junkie on May 15, 2025, 04:10:54 PMLOW HITS ON VULNERABLE RECEIVERS
A penalty has been created to deter low hits on receivers who are not in a position to adequately protect themselves. A 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down will be called when a blow is delivered at or below the knees of a receiver who is in the act of catching a pass, while in a vulnerable position. Should the receiver jump, they will lose low hit protection.
I get why the jump exclusion is there. But many/most receivers will do a little jump/hop most of the time just to get the ball in a better position vis a vis their chest. Schoen and Demski do a little hop on most catches.
If we want this protection, we'll have to teach RECs to only hop/jump when necessary, not all the time.
That said, DBs won't know in time if a REC is going to hop or not (jump, yes) so they may have to just eliminate the low hit in all cases rather than take the chance and hope for a hop!
... Unless the CFL will exclude a 6" hop (both feet off ground) as a "jump"! Yay, another grey area in our rules!
Quote from: Stats Junkie on May 15, 2025, 04:10:54 PMINELIGIBLE RECEIVERS
Once an eligible receiver touches a pass, all players on both teams become eligible to catch the pass.
So previously if a near-the-line Schoen whiffed and batted a ball up an OL couldn't catch it? However, if team-B batted it up the OL could?
So now whoever bats a ball up 30', the hoggies can make a play for it?
Good rule. Also will aid refs/command and game speed as no one has to figure out what happened with slow-mo.
Quote from: Stats Junkie on May 15, 2025, 04:10:54 PMREMOVAL OF RESTRICTED MAJOR PENALTIES
Better! But still lets you UR with impunity at or near the 1YL. I would have liked to see the ball moved to the 1 and any remainder yardage applied to the next kick. Then a 15 or 25 is
always a 15 or 25.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on May 16, 2025, 05:51:43 AMI get why the jump exclusion is there. But many/most receivers will do a little jump/hop most of the time just to get the ball in a better position vis a vis their chest. Schoen and Demski do a little hop on most catches.
If we want this protection, we'll have to teach RECs to only hop/jump when necessary, not all the time.
That said, DBs won't know in time if a REC is going to hop or not (jump, yes) so they may have to just eliminate the low hit in all cases rather than take the chance and hope for a hop!
... Unless the CFL will exclude a 6" hop (both feet off ground) as a "jump"! Yay, another grey area in our rules!
I think all receivers are taught that, it's just a instinct/mannerism that some of them can't help.
As a general rule, if you can make the catch with your feet on the ground, it enables you to keep moving and keep yourself out of a vulnerable position, but some guys just can't help themselves.
Quote from: TecnoGenius on May 16, 2025, 05:37:44 AMNot based on these rule changes! These are for the most part no-op rules that will apply maybe once a weekend (with the exception of maybe weeks 1-3 when the DBs get it into their brains).
I would agree for other years and changes, but not this time. Don't sweat these ones.
A lot of these are calls also were already penalties but now the repercussions are more severe
Quote from: TecnoGenius on May 16, 2025, 05:41:18 AMNo real change here. It seems to just be clarification.
I would have liked to see the Brown-on-Zach hit be made illegal. Based on these clarifications, it still won't qualify. Even if you hit just above the knee and slide down it should be a penalty (like Brown did).
I think more importantly they should have penalized any follow-through or lunging/pushing after they've made leg contact. Brown dug his toes in after hitting Zach and gave an extra lunge/push. Just like the NFL disallows "full weight pancake", we should disallow extra weight pushes that are what does the final, worst damage (see also Marino/Masoli hit and Strev's crippling).
Your analysis is for Brown's low hit on Strev, Brown's high hit on Zach involved rotating his shoulder at the last sec. so it made contact with his helmet.
Quote from: Throw Long Bannatyne on May 16, 2025, 04:28:14 PMYour analysis is for Brown's low hit on Strev, Brown's high hit on Zach involved rotating his shoulder at the last sec. so it made contact with his helmet.
You are correct. I was mixing up my QB maimings! The Marino/Masoli is still/also a good example, though; maybe even better than the Strev hit.
I don't like those extra "extras". A DL surely can tell that they are now holding onto calves/shins. Once your down there, you should stop all forward or pressing motion.
Quote from: Jesse on May 16, 2025, 02:32:23 PMAs a general rule, if you can make the catch with your feet on the ground, it enables you to keep moving and keep yourself out of a vulnerable position, but some guys just can't help themselves.
They may do the little hop thing while in stride, so they can keep going. Hmm, maybe they also do it so any low hits coming in don't break their knees/legs?? Might be better to spin in the air than get your lower body busted up, even though those airborne somersaults from hits look bad on tv.
Another reason to not hop/jump is if you stay on the ground (still, or in a normal run) you have much easier possession rules. If you hop even slightly you have to do the "survive the contact with the ground" thing (which could be 2-4s including catching/falling/landing). If you don't, you just need to have the ball for 1-2 secs (even if tackled to the ground). This has bit us with Schoen in the past.