The Canadian Football League has applied six minor rule changes ahead of the 2025 season, primarily focused on player safety.
“These rule tweaks stay true to the spirit of Canadian football, while reinforcing a thrilling product on the field – one that gets fans to stand up and cheer; one that draws viewers in from across North America and around the world,” commissioner Stewart Johnston said in a statement. “As a league, our stance on rules remains focused on progress in terms of safety, entertainment, game-flow and innovation.”
The most significant change will add protections for defenceless receivers. A 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down will now be called when a hit is delivered at or below the knees of a player who is in the act of catching a pass while in a vulnerable position. This protection does not exist if the receiver leaves his feet and jumps while catching the pass.
The league has also expanded the criteria for Grade 2 roughing the passer, which is accompanied by a 25-yard penalty. Blows delivered with the crown of the helmet to the head or neck of the passer and hits delivered to the knee or below of the passer will now qualify for the increased penalty so long as the defender has a clear view of contact and there are no mitigating circumstances. The penalty can also be called if a hit is egregiously late.
The qualifications for automatic ejections has also been altered to include any low blocks on kicking plays. Any punching action to the head or neck area will now result in disqualification regardless of whether it is delivered with an open or closed fist, clearing up a grey area in the previous rulebook.
Additionally, major penalties will no longer be restricted to half the distance when near the goal line and the ball will now be moved as close to the total distance of the infraction as possible to a maximum of the one-yard line. For example, while a 25-yard roughing the passer penalty suffered at the defending team’s 20-yard line would have previously resulted in the ball being placed at the 10, the offence will now be allowed to scrimmage from the one-yard line.
Other rule changes made that are unrelated to player safety include an alteration to the ineligible receiver rule which will allow any player to catch a pass after an eligible receiver has touched it. The league has also dramatically altered the definition of an offside pass to exclude the batting of a ball by a defending player to keep it in bounds, as well as the batting of a ball after a fumble, a blocked kick, a wild snap, a lateral pass or a kicked ball. This means that the recovering team can now advance the ball and retain possession in those circumstances.
The rule changes will be in effect when the CFL preseason gets underway on May 19. The regular season kicks off on Thursday, June 5 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders hosting the Ottawa Redblacks.
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