NFL considering making roughing-the-passer reviewable

Chris Jones (95) recovers the ball after a roughing the passer penalty against Derek Carr (4). Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

NFL competition committee to discuss making roughing-the-passer penalty reviewable

By Mike Santa Barbara | Last updated 2/26/23

Roughing-the-passer calls have recently become one of the more controversial topics in the NFL. Now, according to reports from the combine on Sunday, how officials call the penalty might receive a face-lift.

On the first day of competition committee meetings at the combine, one team filed a proposal to make roughing-the-passer calls reviewable by instant replay, per Mark Maske of the Washington Post.

One NFL team has proposed making roughing the passer reviewable by instant replay. The competition committee expects to review that proposal Monday.
— MarkMaske (@MarkMaske) February 26, 2023

The committee reviewed 80 rough-the-passer calls on Sunday, finding 96 percent of the calls were accurate. Unsurprisingly, fans and media alike responded to the committee with significant pushback, like NFL analytics guru Warren Sharp, who posted a compilation of six questionable roughing-the-passer calls from 2022 alone.

On Monday, the committee will discuss the proposal, but it isn't likely to gain much steam from there.

Quarterbacks are the NFL's money-maker, and the league will stop at nothing to protect them, meaning the rough-the-passer call is going nowhere.

Much like the mystery surrounding what is and isn't a catch, there seems to be no simple fix coming for roughing-the-passer calls, and fans should probably rejoice. The NFL doesn't have the best track record when it comes to instant replay. Even if the call was made reviewable, there's no certainty that much would change for the better. It didn't work in the disastrous era of reviewable pass interference, and giving teams the ability to challenge roughing-the-passer calls could yield similar results.

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