NFL considering making 1 major issue reviewable

Apr 29, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announces the final pick of the 2021 NFL Draft for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at First Energy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL is giving some thought to allowing one of the more controversial on-field issues this season to become reviewable going forward.

In light of more controversial roughing the passer calls, NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent said the league’s Competition Committee will consider making such fouls reviewable.

“Quarterback goes down by a hit. Obviously, there’s a flag on the field,” Vincent said, via Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk. “Should that player be automatically ejected or should that be a reviewable play? That’ll be a topic of what’s reviewed. What should be reviewable? Do you want to add things to that bucket? Is that something we should taking a look at? Should a disqualification automatically come with a player that is actually taken out of the game?”

Vincent’s comments come after a brutal roughing the passer call in Sunday night’s game, which the NFL vice president admitted should not have been a foul. Such calls have become increasingly common in recent years as the NFL has increased its emphasis on protecting quarterbacks and flagging perceived late hits.

Plenty of fans would like to see roughing the passer calls become more consistent and less soft. However, the last time the NFL made controversial penalty calls reviewable, things barely changed, as officials were very rarely willing to overturn the calls that were made on the field. The danger would be that roughing the passer reviews end up operating the same way, in which case a change to the rules would be largely pointless.