The NFL's New Overtime Rules for the 2025 Season, Explained
The NFL just changed its overtime rules again. Here's what that means for the 2025 season.
When Sunday Night Football returns to NBC for its 2025 regular season later this year, it'll do so with a big change to the way the NFL handles overtime games.
At a meeting this week, the 32 teams of the National Football League voted to approve a measure proposed by the Philadelphia Eagles that would establish uniform overtime rules for both regular season and playoff games. Previously, the rules had been amended for the playoffs, and now those amended rules will apply to any overtime period in any game.
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What are the NFL's new overtime rules for the 2025 season?
Under the previous overtime rules, if a regular season game went into overtime, a 10-minute period of play would begin with a coin toss. From there, the game would proceed like any regular quarter of football, with one caveat: If the team that received the ball first scored a touchdown, the game would immediately end, with no chance for the opposing team to possess the ball and try to score. If the team receiving the ball first kicked a field goal or turned the ball over, the game would continue until someone scored, but if the right offense got the ball first in overtime, the other team basically knew they were facing sudden death.
These rules had previously been the ones for all overtime periods, but the League amended the overtime rules in 2022 for playoff games only. In the postseason, no matter who gets the ball first, both teams are guaranteed the opportunity to possess the ball and score. Now, thanks to the new measure, those rules will also apply to regular season games. Beginning with the 2025 season, both teams will get possessions during the overtime period, offering a more exciting game in which each offense will have a chance to win.
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There are, of course, still some differences between playoff games and regular season games. In the regular season, if the game is still tied after one 10-minute playoff period, the game will simply be called a tie, whereas playoff games must end with a winner in order to advance to the next round of the bracket. There was also a proposal on the table to potentially expand the overtime period to a full 15-minutes, but the NFL opted to keep the 10-minute length intact.
So, as the regular season kicks off this fall, be on the lookout for these new overtime rules to take effect. Dueling offenses in extra minutes is always something fun to watch.
For more NFL news, head to NBC Sports, and get ready for the return of Sunday Night Football this fall on NBC.
