According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, NFL officials are considering implementing an electric system to assess first downs beginning with the 2025 season.
“The system, tested by the NFL under game conditions in recent seasons, would require on-field officials to manually spot the football before the electronic system could assess if that spot resulted in a first down,” Maske reported. “That system necessitates a manual positioning of the ball after a play and does not include, for example, a chip in the football to verify if a runner attained the first-down location.”
Fans of football have debated for a long time the need for an electronic system to track downs and distances in the NFL.
Soccer employs goal-line technology to assess if the ball completely crosses the line, whereas tennis’ Hawk-Eye system monitors the ball’s path with remarkable precision. Since the NFL has already incorporated a microchip into its footballs, reducing the need for traditional chain crews or removing them entirely doesn’t appear to be a significant step.
Regrettably for supporters of this concept, Maske’s report clarified that this is not what the proposed change by the NFL would involve.
It wouldn’t assist in a scenario like the one that occurred during the Kansas City Chiefs’ 32-29 victory against the Buffalo Bills. To an untrained observer, it appeared that Bills quarterback Josh Allen made an essential first down in the fourth quarter. Instead, the officials marked the ball just before the marker.
The identical result would have occurred with the electronic system outlined by Maske since the referees continue to be accountable for positioning the ball.
A significant instance where this could have been useful was in 2017, when Gene Steratore utilized a sheet of paper to verify if Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott achieved a first down.
In 2021, an NFL official informed Yahoo Sports’ Henry Bushnell that the league believed the technology was not sufficient for electronically measuring the ball.
Maske states that this is still true. He stated that “there were a few grievances regarding the duration needed to make first-down decisions” when the NFL trialed an electronic system in the preseason.