NFL Rule Changes Could Reshape Roster Management

A potential NFL rule change could reshape how teams conduct long-term roster planning.

The Browns have put forward a proposal that would allow NFL teams to trade draft picks five years into the future instead of the current three years. The shift, if approved, is designed to create a more active trade market, as well as greater roster flexibility. The NBA, by comparison, allows trades of draft picks up to seven years in the future, and heavy draft-pick movement is a fundamental part of that league’s roster activity. 

The measure will be considered at the league’s annual meeting, set for March 29–31 in Phoenix, and approval will require support from at least 24 of 32 teams. 

Newer and younger general managers entering the NFL have already begun to push the league toward more trades of draft picks. Six first-round selections in next month’s NFL Draft in Pittsburgh have already changed hands—most recently on Wednesday when the Broncos sent their No. 30 overall pick, as well as third- and fourth-round picks, to Miami for receiver Jaylen Waddle and a fourth-round pick. 

Greater movement of draft picks would also give teams more options for their salary cap management. This year’s NFL salary cap of $301.2 million is a league record, and escalating media rights are poised to push future salary caps higher. Those trends are joined by fast-rising salaries across the sport, particularly at skill positions, and the presence of more guaranteed money in player contracts.

The Steelers, meanwhile, have put forward a separate proposal to make permanent the league’s legal tampering rules preceding free agency. On a trial basis, teams have been allowed to have one video or phone call with up to five unrestricted free agents before the formal start of the new league year. The provision helped set up an active start to this year’s free-agency period, and is generally seen as competitively fairer. 

Competition Changes to Come? 

These two rules proposals do not include anything from the NFL’s competition committee—those proposals will be circulated next week.

The big question from that panel is whether there will be another attempt to ban the Tush Push. A proposal from the Packers to do so was tabled at last year’s annual meeting, and then defeated at the league’s spring meeting. 

Last month at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, competition committee co-chair Rich McKay said he hadn’t seen a new proposal for a Tush Push ban, and wasn’t necessarily expecting one.