The NFL’s overtime rule could be undergoing a big change this offseason and that could all happen before the end of the month.
The league’s 32 owners are scheduled to get together for their annual spring meeting starting May 20, and when that happens, one of the hottest topics is going to be overtime. Back in March, the Chiefs proposed a new rule that would have called for both teams to get an offensive possession in overtime, even if the first team to possess the ball scored a touchdown.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, owners couldn’t agree whether or not to approve the new rule, so the proposal was put on ice until May. This time around, the proposal might have a better shot of passing and that’s because the Chiefs are now getting some serious support from the Dallas Cowboys.
During an interview with Pro Football Talk this week, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said that his team would likely be voting in favor of making the change. However, Jones, who’s on the competition committee, couldn’t say whether or not the rest of the members of the committee agreed with him.
“We hadn’t had our [Competition Committee] call yet, which we will, so it’s tough for me to know where the Committee’s leaning,” Jones said. “I certainly tend to lean toward the new rule. . . . I certainly watched every play of that Kansas City-New England game, and you kind of would have liked to have seen what would have happened if Kansas City got another shot at it, and then how the thing would have ended up. It was football, in my mind, the game at its best.”
According to Jones, the push to pass the overtime proposal gained some “traction” back in March, but not enough for owners to vote on it.
“I certainly don’t have a problem with guaranteeing each team a shot at it,” Jones said. “It’s certainly something that had some traction there in the room, and certainly saw some people who were very interested in it. But we’ll get on a call there, take a long, hard look at it, and I’m sure membership’s gonna get to see it.”
For the overtime proposal to become a rule, 24 of the NFL‘s 32 owners will have to vote for it to pass. As things stand now, it looks like the Chiefs and Cowboys just need to convince 22 other teams to vote “yes” on the change.