2022 Rule Changes

[ModAdmin]

From the League...

Here are some of the major changes, along with the rationale for each one:

Change: Hash Marks on CFL fields will be moved closer to centre field. Each one will be 28 yards from the nearest sideline, instead of 24 yards. As a result, they will be nine yards apart instead of 17 yards apart.

"Moving the ball closer to centre will encourage teams to use the entire field and their entire playbooks," Ambrosie said.

"Our football leaders told us the current hash marks too often had the effect of taking the 12th man on the field - the receiver on the far side - out of the play. A throw to him was consistently seen as too risky. And that, in turn, was diluting the impact of our huge field, which is perhaps the most unique thing about Canadian football."

Canadian football features 12 players per side and its field (110 yards long and 65 yards wide, with 20-yard end zones) measures 87,750 square feet. US football has 11 players per side and its field (100 yards long and 53.3 yards wide, with 10-yard end zones) is roughly 57,564 square feet. If CFL defences have to protect the entire field and be mindful of every offensive player, there is a lot of potential open space for offences to take advantage of: 7,313 square feet per player in Canada, compared to 5,233 square feet per player in the US.

Change: Offences will get more of a head start. After a made field goal or single point, drives will start from the 40-yard line, instead of the 35-yard line. Teams kicking off for any reason will do so from their 30-yard line instead of the 35-yard line. The only exception is kickoffs following a safety: they will now occur from the 20-yard line instead of the 25-yard line.

"These changes should mean improved field position for the start of offensive series, and that should contribute to more scoring and more sustained drives, which makes for better game flow," Ambrosie said.

"We know offences starting in the shadows of their own goalposts are bound to be more conservative in their play calling, while good field position gives offences more options. Plus, moving the kickoff following a safety back five yards may discourage coaches from choosing to surrender a safety to protect field position. Having a player take a knee in the end zone may be perceived as strategic but it is anything but exciting to watch."

Change: Strategies to limit opportunities for kick returns will be discouraged more severely. All no yards penalties - which are assigned when the cover team invades a five-yard halo around the returner as he fields a punt - will be 15 yards. Previously, a no yards penalty was 15 yards only if the ball had been fielded in the air - and only five yards if the punt had bounced. Also, any punt that sails out of bounds before it reaches an opponent's 15-yard line will be assigned a penalty - instead of only punts that sail out of bounds before they reach the 20-yard line.

"Our coaches, general managers and team presidents all agreed that the kick return is an exciting and essential part of the Canadian game," Ambrosie said.

"When teams purposely commit an infraction to prevent any return, it takes away some of the excitement of our game, and it creates a stoppage in play while the penalty is assessed. We wanted to address that."

Some of the changes are incremental, he acknowledged, but Ambrosie said this will allow the league to monitor the results and consider further changes in the future if they are needed or are deemed beneficial.

"I want to thank Greg Dick, our Chief Football Operations Officer, and Darren Hackwood, our Associate Vice-President, Officiating, for leading a very thorough and effective process, our coaches, general managers and presidents for contributing tremendous insight, our governors for their support, and our fans for sharing their views in our market research and during my road trip across the country. Finally, my gratitude goes to our players who participated through their players' association."

Other changes include:

Change: Two quarterbacks will be allowed on the field at the same time, provided all other ratio rules are satisfied, which will allow for some additional imaginative play calling.

Change: A "communications co-ordinator" from the officiating department, connected to the on-field officials via headset communication, will be imbedded on each team's bench. This will allow information to be shared with coaches without requiring the referee to approach the sidelines, improving game flow. This will also make it easier for coaches to alert the officiating crew that they are initiating a timeout or a challenge.

Change: To also keep a game moving, a penalty that occurs at the end of the first or third quarter will be assigned at the start of the next quarter, rather than triggering an extension of the quarter. The non-offending team could still insist the penalty be imposed within the quarter if there is a clear advantage, such as wanting to keep the wind behind it for a crucial kick.

Change: The circumstances under which the Command Centre is allowed to help on-field officials - without a coach's challenge or an officials' huddle ? will be expanded to include possession rulings, boundary rulings and administrative rules such as a formation without an end or ineligible receivers downfield. This is designed to allow the Command Centre to get in front of a coach's challenge where an obvious outcome is known, improving the flow of the game. It is to occur via headset communication and without stopping the game.

Change: Introduction of a new objectionable conduct penalty for quarterbacks who "fake" giving themselves up by pretending to initiate a slide while carrying the football. The ball would also be spotted where the fake occurred. The safety of all quarterbacks is jeopardized when measures to protect them are instead used to gain an advantage.

Change: Automatic ejection of any player guilty of two unnecessary roughness penalties or two objectionable conduct penalties (or a combination of two UR and OC penalties) for infractions that occur following a play. This will discourage the type of conduct that can threaten player safety and disrupt game flow.

"With training camps scheduled to open in just three weeks, we're looking forward to a full season of great CFL football," Ambrosie said. "Throughout the year, we will be measuring the impact of these changes on the fun, excitement and speed of our game. We have great fans and we want more of them. We have great players and want to showcase their talents. A great product is job one as we work together to grow our league."

https://www.cfl.ca/2022/04/27/rule-changes-build-on-strengths-of-the-cfl-game/

[theaardvark]

Love all these changes... 

One interesting one, the 2 QB's rule, means there will be 2 players with headsets on the field... is there an additional advantage there? 

[Pete]

Really like the changes, moving kickoffs 5 yards back may make the kickoff returners role even more important and also ensuring you have a strong backup option.
The 2 qb option is intriguing, could you imagine having Streveler and Collaris in the same backfield? Realisticly don't think it will come into play much unless you have a backup that has great running ability, or has great hands like SInopoly

[Jesse]

I hate starting from the 40 - artificially trhing to create offence - might as well just change the field size if you're not going to let teams use the whole field.

The others seem reasonable.

[TBURGESS]

A bunch of changes to promote offense & give the command center more power.

I'm not really for or against any of the changes.

[Jockitch]

Don't care for the kickoff change or the 15 yard penalty for "no yards"

Love the Hash Mark move & the communication headset on each bench

[Pete]

A bunch of changes to promote offense & give the command center more power.

I'm not really for or against any of the changes.

Not sure about giving the command center more power, might just backfire and disrupt the flow of the game  I prefer the way it is now with coaches having limited challenges. Many times calling games tighter just results in slow moving pace.

[Blue In BC]

Love all these changes... 

One interesting one, the 2 QB's rule, means there will be 2 players with headsets on the field... is there an additional advantage there? 

Some posters wanted QB's to be able to play other positions and this accomplishes that.

What will this mean in actual games? It means another player would have to come off such as a receiver. Most QB's aren't going to be better than a starting receiver or import RB.

Will have to see who uses it and how or why.  " Imaginative " play calling?  Defences will be on the look out if a 2nd QB drops back to receive a lateral pass behind the LOS. Weren't they doing that anyway?

Don't really think this adds much besides the chance to have 2 QB's injured in one play.  You still only get 12 players on the field.

We should start a poll to see how many times we think we see this during the season.  Will watch to see if some teams rosters an actual RB and call him a QB.

[theaardvark]

Not sure about giving the command center more power, might just backfire and disrupt the flow of the game  I prefer the way it is now with coaches having limited challenges. Many times calling games tighter just results in slow moving pace.

Watching the USFL games, getting the command centre more involved doesn't seem too bad...

[Blue In BC]

Just figured out the loophole that a couple of teams could use to gain an extra DI as a result of the QB rule Not another DI by classification but subterfuge. There are 3 teams that might have a Canadian QB on their roster.

EXAMPLE: The Lions will start an import at RB and they probably roster 2 Canadian QB's.

Designate their starting RB as a QB and O'Conner ( # 2 actual QB ) as a receiver.  By rule any player can play QB whether he's designated a QB or not. That would allow a team with a Canadian back up at QB to add another import RB for example and still maintain the starting ratio and the overall roster ratio. Note that QB's are not included in the overall roster ratio which is something some posters wanted.

Nothing suggests a team can't have a 2nd QB on every offensive play. Implementing what I suggested doesn't break that rule change. It might be not what was intended. It might be unethical but go ahead and explain how it doesn't comply with the new rule?

[TecnoGenius]

Overall, mostly good or neutral.  Nothing horrible here.  So I guess we dodged some major (4-down) bullets.  So this is a win.

It sure is going to be hard to spot 1st downs outside the hashes.  If the ball is blown dead at the median point between the rail and hash, it's going to be hard to eyeball if 1st was gained.  Expect more measurements, which will slow the game down.  Why can't they draw mini-hashes at that point that are just used for yard eyeballing?  It's all going to look very strange when we see it in PS.

Return halo: well and good, but they should have also upped the penalty for "hovering" or "kick return interference" or whatever it's called to 20 or 25 yards.  And I still think intentional halo-busting to hellacious-hit the returner (yes, rarely seen) should be 25.

Change:[/b] To also keep a game moving, a penalty that occurs at the end of the first or third quarter will be assigned at the start of the next quarter, rather than triggering an extension of the quarter. The non-offending team could still insist the penalty be imposed within the quarter if there is a clear advantage, such as wanting to keep the wind behind it for a crucial kick.

I hope they actually defined "clear advantage" as ambiguous language will be taken advantage of.  I always liked the "can't end on a penalty" rule, though it probably drove TSN mad.  If there's wind, then you could argue that any O snap with the wind is an important advantage.

Yes, "to keep a game moving" is basically a lie.  This is solely to "keep the TV broadcast moving".  Sure, that might be just as important, but don't obfuscate it: just say it.

Change: Introduction of a new objectionable conduct penalty for quarterbacks who "fake" giving themselves up by pretending to initiate a slide while carrying the football. The ball would also be spotted where the fake occurred. The safety of all quarterbacks is jeopardized when measures to protect them are instead used to gain an advantage.

Uh, I watch every CFL game, always, and I have never seen a QB do this.  Is this a thing??  They sure fake-throw a lot, but I've never seen a fake slide or dive.  Is this open to interpretation?  Potential quagmire.  (Unrelated P.S. Yes, Cody was over the LoS in '19 WDF.)

Change: Automatic ejection of any player guilty of two unnecessary roughness penalties or two objectionable conduct penalties (or a combination of two UR and OC penalties)

There goes Duron Carter!! 

[TecnoGenius]

Watching the USFL games, getting the command centre more involved doesn't seem too bad...

Yes, AAF, XFL, USFL all did this and they all had much more command transparency like showing them watching the vids, hearing what they are debating, listening to the refs reporting, etc.  Phantom calls from the sky without transparency may make things worse as it can look "rigged".  CFL should open up command with mics and cameras just like the startup leagues do.  Every iffy call should have the rationale explained at the time, not 3 days after the game.

[TecnoGenius]

Designate their starting RB as a QB and O'Conner ( # 2 actual QB ) as a receiver.  By rule any player can play QB whether he's designated a QB or not. That would allow a team with a Canadian back up at QB to add another import RB for example and still maintain the starting ratio and the overall roster ratio. Note that QB's are not included in the overall roster ratio which is something some posters wanted.

Ya, but what does that buy you really?  I guess a free DI, but now you're stuck with a NAT starter at that receiver spot.  So that only helps you if you have a real, great NAT WR you can put in for most of the snaps.  Is that your intention?  Roster QB#2 as a starter but he never actually takes a snap?  Is that legal?

If BC does this, I would expect Ambrosie to clamp it down real darn quick.  He may be many things, but he doesn't put up with guff that hurts the league.

[TBURGESS]

Just figured out the loophole that a couple of teams could use to gain an extra DI as a result of the QB rule Not another DI by classification but subterfuge. There are 3 teams that might have a Canadian QB on their roster.

EXAMPLE: The Lions will start an import at RB and they probably roster 2 Canadian QB's.

Designate their starting RB as a QB and O'Conner ( # 2 actual QB ) as a receiver.  By rule any player can play QB whether he's designated a QB or not. That would allow a team with a Canadian back up at QB to add another import RB for example and still maintain the starting ratio and the overall roster ratio. Note that QB's are not included in the overall roster ratio which is something some posters wanted.

Nothing suggests a team can't have a 2nd QB on every offensive play. Implementing what I suggested doesn't break that rule change. It might be not what was intended. It might be unethical but go ahead and explain how it doesn't comply with the new rule?

Which rule states that any player can play QB? Current rules state that one QB or Kicker must be on the field for every offensive play & 2 players are designated as QB's. QB1 goes down. QB2 or a kicker must come in. QB2 goes down and a player designated as the 3rd QB comes in. (I've never been able to find a rule that allows this, but I've seen it done.)

In your example: QB1 goes down. QB2/Rec takes the QB spot, and RB must stay on the field.

It doesn't matter tho. If QB1 and QB2 are both Canadian, they take an NI spot. There is no 'extra' import in either situation so no advantage to calling QB2 a receiver.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

I like all the rules except starting at the 40 yard line after a field goal. The 35 already seemed generous enough. It might even be significant enough that teams go for six at 10-15 and inside. It might be better off to safeguard that field position than to score 3 and let them go right out to the 40. It really, really punishes kickers for missing too. Miss a field goal and you get 1 point and it's already out near mid-field. Yikes.