By Sunday 
NFL Owners Reject Detroit Lions’ Rule Proposal on Defensive Penalties
The Detroit Lions’ attempt to modify defensive penalty rules for the 2025 season has been denied. At the annual NFL owners meetings, the league voted against the Lions’ proposal to eliminate automatic first downs on defensive holding and illegal contact penalties.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell had advocated for the change, emphasizing how such calls often unfairly impact defensive teams in long-yardage situations. “Forget the first downs. Our rule for first downs is irrelevant. It’d be first-and-5 now instead of 5 yards and a first down—that’s actually better offensively,” Campbell explained. He pointed out instances where minor contact downfield on second-and-long or third-and-long resulted in game-altering first downs.
Despite Campbell’s reasoning, not all league executives were on board. Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane voiced concerns about unintended consequences, arguing that the rule change could encourage defenders to take more risks. “The problem is you get a team in third-and-12, third-and-15, you’re gonna tell your guys to grab a little more, hold a little more, because the worst case is it’s only going to be third-and-7,” Beane said.
In addition to the defensive penalty proposal, the Lions also pushed for two other rule changes: adjusting NFL playoff seeding based on overall record rather than giving home-field priority to division winners and allowing teams to exclude players placed on injured reserve before the regular season from counting against the 90-man roster limit.
While the defensive penalty proposal was officially denied, the playoff seeding proposal has been tabled for further discussion. Campbell remained optimistic about its future, stating, “That’s been an ongoing discussion… it’s got some legs.”
For now, the Lions will have to adjust to the league’s decision and move forward under the existing rules.