NFL plotting major rule change citing Stefon Diggs incident in Super Bowl LX vs Seahawks 

The NFL could look a little different next season.

This comes as the NFL Competition Committee have reportedly discussed a slight tweak to the rules that would now allow replay officials to throw penalty flags for fouls that went unpunished or missed on the field.

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On Monday, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent revealed that discussions had taken place centered around non-football acts that went unpenalized by on-field officials.

“You don’t want to just be expanding the Pandora’s box,” Vincent said, via ESPN.

“But we believe that things like the non-football act, you can really, really restrict what that is.

“That’s something that we believe that potentially there’s a little bit of tweaking in the language, that may be the first step.”

Vincent cited the prominent example of the altercation during Super Bowl LX between Seattle Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe and New England Patriots star wide receiver Stefon Diggs.

During the fourth quarter of the contest, the Seahawks corner was seen pushing Diggs after the play was over out of bounds.

After the Pats WR took exception to the hit, a scuffle ensued, and Jobe then appeared to strike Diggs’ helmet with a closed fist, but the referees never threw a flag.

Jobe was, however, retrospectively fined for a combined $18,444, with both hits incurring a $9,222 fine.

According to ESPN, some NFL owners have been reluctant to allow replay officials to throw flags in the past, citing that the on-field officials’ decisions would be overshadowed – and controlled somewhat – by those elsewhere.

“That may be the first step in getting to putting flags on the field,” Vincent – who also shares the same hesitation – added.

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“I just think in the era of legalized sports betting, just as a former player, I would’ve found it very difficult to be at Lincoln Financial [Field].

“A big play occurred, nothing happened real-time in the stadium and then all of a sudden, 10, 12 or 25 seconds later before the ball snapped again, I see [a flag] on the field before the next snap. I don’t know.”

Equipment changes could be enforced

Additional discussions took place in the NFL’s committee meeting such as the proposed plans to change the league’s shoulder pad requirements.

According to NFL executive vice president Jeff Miller, these discussions have arisen due to the increase in shoulder injuries over the past few seasons.

The league has since examined whether this correlates with the trend that current padding provides “less coverage” than in years past.

“Shoulder injuries were very high a year ago,” Miller said, via NFL reporter Mark Maske. “They weren’t quite as high this year, but they were still higher than average.

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“And so the conversation with the Competition Committee went to: Are there equipment-focused ways you can prevent some of those injuries?

“We know that shoulder pads in their coverage are not what they were 10 or 15 years ago. Players and equipment managers tailor them.

“And is that presenting injury risk with less coverage? … It may be something we’re going to spend more time on.”

As such, Miller is of the belief that there are “equipment elements to this which need to be addressed”.

Thus, the players could look very different when they enter the field for the 2026 season.

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