{"id":861139,"date":"2026-09-26T08:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T08:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861139\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T08:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T08:18:17","slug":"nfl-likely-to-shut-down-rulebook-loophole-eagles-have-been-exploiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861139\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL likely to shut down rulebook loophole Eagles have been exploiting"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past two weeks, several teams have been taking advantage of a loophole in the NFL<\/a> rulebook, but that likely won’t be happening much longer. It looks like the league is thinking about shutting it down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rulebook is kind of ambiguous about whether teams can use a holder WITHOUT a tee on a normal kickoff, so the Eagles<\/a> have been taking advantage of that. In their Week 2 win over the Titans<\/a>, the Eagles sent out punter Braden Mann<\/a> to serve as the holder for Jake Elliott<\/a> on kickoffs. The Eagles were trying to make it easier for Elliott to kick a “Dirty ball,” which is essentially a low knuckleball that can be difficult to field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To make Elliott’s job easier, the Eagles had Mann hold the football ON THE GROUND at Elliott’s preferred angle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Falcons also used this strategy in their Week 1 loss to the Steelers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the NFL made the switch over to the dynamic kickoff in 2024, the league added a rule that permitted teams to use a 12th player on the field<\/a>, but only in one specific situation. It has to be a holder for kickoffs during windy games or in situations where the ball won’t stay on the tee. The holder then has to run off the field immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s what the rulebook says about using a holder:\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If Team A is using a designated holder, the designated holder may be the 12th person on the field when the ball is kicked for a kickoff or safety kick,” the rulebook states. “But he is a non-player, must leave the field on his team’s sideline with the kicking tee immediately after the ball is kicked, and is also subject to the rules of non-player conduct in accordance with Rule 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now this is where things get ambiguous. The rulebook states that you can use a holder at any time, but it doesn’t necessarily say anything about whether you have to use a tee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“During a free kick, the kicking team may use a manufactured tee designed to hold the ball no more than one inch from the ground and approved by the League,” the rulebook says. “During a kickoff or safety kick, the kicking team may also use a designated holder to hold the ball.”<\/p>\n

The team “may” use a manufactured tee. It doesn’t say they have to use one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Bears<\/a> special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, using a holder and having him place the ball directly on the ground goes against the spirit of the kickoff rule. During a meeting with reporters on Friday (via ESPN<\/a>), he said the rule will be corrected and that if a holder is used, he’ll have to place the ball on a tee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Basically, the Eagles will still be able to use a holder, but they won’t be allowed to place the ball on the ground. Under the current rules, if a team attempts an onside kick, they can place the ball directly on the ground, and that part of the rule won’t change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Eagles can keep doing what they’ve been doing until the league changes the rule, but if that doesn’t happen soon, you could see other teams start copying Philadelphia’s strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the past two weeks, several teams have been taking advantage of a loophole in the NFL rulebook,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[363400,8850,194330,349,1239,99,8853],"class_list":["post-861139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-braden-mann","tag-chicago-bears","tag-jake-elliott","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-sports","tag-tennessee-titans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}