Cancelling The Pro Bowl (& 9 More Changes The NFL Needs To Make)

Credit them where it's due: The NFL has made plenty of changes over the years which have been generally well-received by its fans and players. In 1999, they implemented a replay review system following the missed Jerry Rice fumble in the Green Bay Packers-San Francisco 49ers' Wild Card Game. All scoring plays and turnovers became reviewable by officials in the 2011 and 2012 seasons, respectively.

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The NFL has done a fine job in making several necessary changes to enhance the product both on and off the field. But there's definitely room to improve, and they can start by making these 10 adjustment.

Reduce Thursday Night Football Games

Yes, there is an insane amount of money that the NFL makes through Thursday Night Football. Amazon picked up the package and will pay around $1 billion a year for it.

But let's be real, the quality of Thursday night games are terrible. Fans still love the annual kickoff game that pits the defending Super Bowl champion against another marquee team, and the trio of games for American Thanksgiving should never go away. But Thursday Night Football games every year from Weeks 1 to 17? That's too much.

Change The Structure Of Players Contracts

It's simply unfair to NFL players that the vast majority of their contracts aren't fully guaranteed. Their bodies go through non-stop pain and stress to put on entertainment. And there are too many instances where a player gets released from his contract after he suffers a massive injury.

The NFL needs to change this...with a few exceptions. For example, player contracts should be fully guaranteed unless, say, they are willing to adjust it to help the team clear cap space. One way or another, the players deserve more guaranteed money when they sign lucrative deals.

Playoff Teams Are Seeded By Record

It's absolutely ridiculous that some teams can win a weak division with a losing record and yet still host a playoff game. See: 2010 Seattle Seahawks (7-9), 2014 Carolina Panthers (7-8-1) or 2020 Washington Football Team (7-9). Seattle and Carolina went on to win their respective games.

Another unfair instance: The 2018 Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs finished with identical 12-4 records, both tops in the AFC. But the Chargers were the wild card team and thus had to go on the road against a 10-6 Baltimore Ravens team in the wild card and later against the 11-5 New England Patriots in the Divisional Round (the Patriots won soundly).

Playoff teams should be seeded based on their records, regardless of where they finish in the standings. A wild card team shouldn't be punished for dominating the regular season, and a playoff team with a losing record shouldn't be rewarded with a home playoff game.

Defensive PI Penalties Are 15-Yard Fouls

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No penalty in the NFL draws more ire and controversy than defensive pass interference. The PI infraction could be challenged if coaches so desired in the 2019 season, but the league scrapped that rule after one year.

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Why not keep it simple by making defensive PI penalties 15-yard fouls instead of a spot foul? There are too many instances where a receiver doesn't catch a 50-50 ball, there's minimal contact, and they draw the flag which sets up an easy touchdown anyway. That's got to end, because it's tough enough being a defender against the world's best quarterbacks and receivers.

The 4th-And-15 Alternative To An Onside Kick

The NFL considered this idea a year, but it never went through.

The rule idea is simple: Instead of a team going for the onside kick, they can retain possession of the football if they convert a 4th-and-15 play from their own 25-yard line. Onside kicks are rarely ever recovered by the kicking team, so adding an alternative like this would set up far more thrilling finishes.

Teams Get Five Timeouts Per Game (Can Be Used Whenever)

Instead of giving each team three timeouts per half, the NFL could make things more enticing by giving teams a firm total of five timeouts.

This would force coaches to be more strategic with their timeout usage. What if a coach smartly holds on to all five of his TO's in the final minutes of the fourth quarter? It would give his team a chance and also set up better finishes, and that's exactly what the league should want.

Even Number Of Regular Season Games

Countless fans and TV broadcasters obviously loved the announcement of the NFL expanding the regular season schedule to 17 game and 18 weeks. But having an odd number of games is simply strange, considering that the regular season schedule has almost always featured an even number of contests.

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The NFL should either go back to 16 games or expand to 18 games. Of course, expanding to 18 games should mean giving the players extra incentives (additional money, benefits, etc.) Either way, the league just needs to get away from the strange 17-game

Scrap The Pro Bowl

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The NFL keeps experimenting with new ideas, but they haven't come to accept that the Pro Bowl weekend has lost its luster.

Players simply aren't going to give it their all in a meaningless game. The Pro Bowl is just too gimmicky and not at all appealing anymore. How many football fans do you know personally who would genuinely be disappointed if it got scrapped?

Adjust The OT Rules For The Regular Season, Too

The NFL finally adjusted its rules for overtime playoff games this year. Each team is guaranteed one possession, even if the team that gets the ball first goes down to score a touchdown.

It took the league long enough to implement that rule change, but why is it limited to playoff games? Regular season games that require OT should also guarantee each team a possession. It's not fun when the team who scores a TD on the opening possession automatically wins the game. Give everybody a chance, regular season or postseason.

Make All Play & Penalties Reviewable

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It's hard to comprehend how we're still talking about this in the year 2022. With all this high quality technology, and with cameras surrounding the playing surface, why are only certain plays and penalty calls reviewable?

This shouldn't be difficult. Every NFL call, missed call, penalty or non-penalty should be reviewable by a coach. If the NFL doesn't want to do that, why not have a "sky judge" system in which a person sits in the booth and lets the head official know if they made a mistake? The NFL has all the resources to cut back on game-deciding controversial calls. It's time to actually use those now.