2025 CFL Rule Changes

[TecnoGenius]

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.

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.

[TecnoGenius]

The 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.

[TecnoGenius]

The 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).

[TecnoGenius]

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

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.

[TecnoGenius]

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.

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!

[TecnoGenius]

INELIGIBLE 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.

[TecnoGenius]

REMOVAL 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.

[Jesse]

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!

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.

[Pete]

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.

A lot of these are calls also were already penalties but now the repercussions are more severe

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

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).

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.

[TecnoGenius]

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.

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.

[TecnoGenius]

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.

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.