NFL mulls allowing replay officials to throw flags - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL competition committee is discussing the possibility of authorizing replay officials to throw flags for specific penalties.

Although the appetite might be limited for what would be a major change to the league's officiating approach, some members are coalescing this week around a possible entry point: non-football acts that have gone unpenalized by on-field officials.

NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent suggested the possibility Monday while speaking to reporters during a break in the meeting.

«You don't want to just be expanding the Pandora's box,» Vincent said, «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 noted two examples from the 2025 season. One occurred in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LX, when New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe grabbed each other's face masks on the sideline. Jobe then delivered a left-handed punch to Diggs' helmet. There was no penalty flag thrown on the play, but if the NFL enacts what the competition committee is discussing, the on-site replay official would have been able to penalize and possibly eject Jobe for the punch.

The other example occurred in the Week 16 game between the Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall stepped on the leg of Rams guard Kevin Dotson while Dotson was on the ground at the end of a play in the first quarter. Hall was not penalized, but the NFL later suspended him for a game for unnecessary roughness and unsportsmanlike conduct.

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