April 25, 1974 - Sweeping NFL Rules reform
The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the day comes from the April 26, 1974 edition of the Miami Herald which has as its boldface heading, “NFL Brings In Sudden Death; Changes Rules For Field Goals!” The Herald Wire Service of course is talking about an April 25 NFL rules meeting in New York City that the League responded to criticism of safety and sagging offenses. The sweeping changes were to first move the goalposts from the goal line to the end line and also to adopt sudden death overtime for all regular and exhibition games. Another rule that made a difference was that a missed field goal would either be returned to the 20 yard line or to the previous line of scrimmage, whichever was further from the goal line for the next series to start. Commissioner Pete Rozelle walking out of the meetings was quoted as saying; “ I am extremely pleased. I felt the coaches were doing too good of a job with defenses. This should make things interesting.”
The article goes on to say that these changes including one where the kickoffs will be from the thirty five yard line, to encourage kick returns, are designed to provide more scoring by offenses. Another revision in the kicking game was that members of the punting and kicking teams could not go beyond the line of scrimmage until the ball was kicked.
Some of the biggest impact changes were to eliminate some downfield contact that defensive backs could perform on downfield receivers such as roll blocking and cutting. Offensive holding penalties were reduced to ten yards from the previous 15 yard variety and crackback blocks, which are when the blocker is heading back towards their own goal line, could no longer be below the waist of the defender.
Why so many sweeping changes at one time? Rozelle in his presser said the changes were in the works for two years but individually were voted down, the Commish stated,”The Competition Committee decided to present them as a total package rather than pick them apart.” To pass there needed to be at least 20 of the 26 franchises that voted in favor and according to Rozelle , it wasn't even close. Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Norm Van Brocklin, who opposed the changes expressed his feelings when he said,” My personal opinion is that it’s a reaction to the media. They were made by the owners and not by the coaches.” His statement implied that the coaches now would need to make even more crucial decisions in game and spend more time during the week on scheme and strategy. Years later we can look back and say the rules for the most part started improvement in the League’s offensive firepower.
The proof, let's look at the stats according to Pro Football Reference. In 1973 teams averaged 19.5 points per game with 285.3 yards per game of offense. In 1975 the points per game were 20.6 and 308.3 yards per game. More offense was indeed gained and with more scoring the popularity of the game rose and so did the revenues.
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April 25, 1993 - The 1993 NFL Draft took place and the New England Patriots used the first selection of the Draft to take Washington State QB Drew Bledsoe. The Hall of Fame players that so far have come out of this Draft class are Tackle Willie Roaf who was the number 8 pick by the New Orleans Saints, running back Jerome Bettis the 19th overall selection by the Saint Louis Rams, Michael Strahan a defensive lineman taken by the New York Giants with the 40th pick, Will Shields a guard selected by the Kansas City Chiefs at pick number 74 and the steal of the weekend may have been John Lynch, another future Hall of Famer as the defensive back was chosen by Tampa Bay with the 82nd overall selection in the Draft per the Pro-Football-Reference.com. This was the first Draft that was reduced from 12 rounds to only 8.
April 25, 2009 - NFL Draft: Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford first pick by Detroit Lions. According to the Pro-Football-Reference.com website the rest of the top ten of this Draft class went like this:
Pick Tm Player Pos College/Univ
1 DET Matthew Stafford QB Georgia
2 STL Jason Smith T Baylor
3 KAN Tyson Jackson DE LSU
4 SEA Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest
5 NYJ Mark Sanchez QB USC
6 CIN Andre Smith T Alabama
7 OAK Darrius Heyward-Bey WR Maryland
8 JAX Eugene Monroe T Virginia
9 GNB B.J. Raji DT Boston Col.
10 SFO Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech
April 25, 2013 - NFL Draft: Central Michigan offensive tackle Eric Fisher first pick by Kansas City Chiefs. Some including the NFL Spin Zon argue that this draft class may be the worst in NFL modern history. The rest of the top ten picks from this Draft according to the Pro-Football-Reference.com went something like this:
Pick Tm Player Pos College/Univ
1 KAN Eric Fisher T Central Michigan
2 JAX Luke Joeckel T Texas A&M
3 MIA Dion Jordan DE Oregon
4 PHI Lane Johnson T Oklahoma
5 DET Ezekiel Ansah DE BYU
6 CLE Barkevious Mingo LB LSU
7 ARI Jonathan Cooper G North Carolina
8 STL Tavon Austin WR West Virginia
9 NYJ Dee Milliner DB Alabama
10 TEN Chance Warmack G
April 25, 2019 - NFL Draft: Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray #1 pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Again we use the informative Pro-Football-Reference.com to generate this draft class top ten choices:
Pick Tm Player Pos College/Univ
1 ARI Kyler Murray QB Oklahoma
2 SFO Nick Bosa DE Ohio St.
3 NYJ Quinnen Williams DT Alabama
4 OAK Clelin Ferrell DE Clemson
5 TAM Devin White LB LSU
6 NYG Daniel Jones QB Duke
7 JAX Josh Allen LB Kentucky
8 DET T.J. Hockenson TE Iowa
9 BUF Ed Oliver DT Houston
10 PIT Devin Bush Jr. LB
