NFL Rules & Penalties

The NFL has clearly outlined penalties for violating specific rules. The penalties are designed to discourage players and teams from breaking regulations. The more serious the infraction, the greater the penalty. Most involve awarding yards to the other team. Some involve loss of down or an automatic first down. The most severe violations of the rules result in player disqualification.

  1. 5-Yard Penalties

    • The least severe NFL rule violations result in 5-yard penalties. These include encroachment or offsides, defensive holding, false start, ineligible receiver down field and running into the kicker. Five-yard penalties are also enforced for things that happen before the ball is snapped. They include delay of game, illegal formation, illegal motion, illegal shift, illegal substitution and neutral zone infraction. A team can also be penalized 5 yards for having more than 11 players on the field or fewer than 7 players on the offensive line.

    10-Yard Penalties

    • More severe violations of NFL rules incur 10-yard penalties. These include offensive holding, tripping, illegal block above the waist and intentional grounding of a forward pass. If the passing player is more than 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, the ball is placed at the spot of the foul. A team can also be penalized 10 yards if a player intentionally kicks or hits a loose ball.

    15-Yard Penalties

    • The most dangerous NFL rule violations result in 15-yard penalties. These include chop blocks, clipping, crackback blocks, illegal low blocks, grabbing a face mask and spearing with the helmet. It also applies to all types of unnecessary roughness such as roughing the kicker, roughing the passer and interfering with a fair catch. Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties also result in 15-yard penalties. This includes taunting, excessive celebrating and removing a helmet while on the field.

    Downs

    • Several NFL rule violations result in the offense losing a down or automatically gaining a first down. The offense loses 5 yards and a down if a forward pass is thrown beyond the line of scrimmage. The offense also loses a down for intentional grounding of the football in addition to the yardage penalty. An automatic first down is awarded to the offense for all defensive penalties with exception of encroachment, neutral zone violation, delay of game, too many players on the field, running into the kicker and illegal substitution.

    Disqualification

    • NFL referees have the power to disqualify players and remove them from the game. This is extremely rare and reserved for the most heinous of rule violations. Only extremely flagrant roughing penalties qualify, such as striking another player or referee or swinging a helmet as a weapon.

    Declining Penalties

    • The other team has the option to decline a penalty. This is pretending the violation never occurred and allowing the play to stand. The opposing team will do this when the result of the play is to the penalized team's disadvantage. For example, it may be better for the defense to allow an offensive play that resulted in a loss to stand even though there was a holding penalty on the offense. If the defense took the penalty, the offense would get another chance at the play. By declining the penalty, the defense forces the offense to lose a down.