NFL owners approve rule changes to kickoff and overtime for 2025 season, plus Raiders' seven-round mock draft

Here's everything you need to know about the NFL for April 1

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

The NFL has started the month of April off with a bang. The league's 32 owners approved a major rule change on Tuesday: A field goal of 60 yards or more will now be worth four points instead of three. With the change, Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey might now be the most valuable player in the NFL. 

The craziest thing about the new rule is that it's NOT real. APRIL FOOLS. The NFL's 32 owners did actually approve several rule changes on Tuesday, but the field goal rule wasn't one of them. We will be covering the actual changes today and I promise no more April Fools. From here on out, there will be no more fooling. At least by me. 

As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. 

1. Owners approve several new rules at the NFL's annual league meeting

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The NFL's 32 owners are currently in Florida, and nope, they are not on spring break. They're actually working this week at the NFL's annual league meeting. The owners have been staying busy by voting on several new rule proposals. 

Let's take a look at some of the biggest rule changes that have been voted through today: 

• Overtime change coming for regular season. The NFL owners have voted to align the regular-season overtime rules more closely with the postseason OT rules. Under the overtime rules in the postseason, the period is 15 minutes and both teams are guaranteed a possession, even if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown. Both teams will now be guaranteed a possession during overtime in the regular season, but the OT period will only be 10 minutes long. Under the previous regular-season rule, the team that got the ball first could win the game by scoring a touchdown on their first possession, but that's no longer the case. 
• Touchbacks will be moving out to the 35-yard line. Under last year's rule, the touchback was at the 30-yard line, but starting with the 2025 season, the touchback will be moved out to the 35-yard line. The change is being made with the hope that it will discourage the kicking team from simply booting the ball out of the end zone on a kickoff knowing that the return team will automatically get the ball at the 35-yard line. Getting the ball at the 35 is huge, because that means a team would need to gain just 20 to 25 yards to get into field goal range. The league's internal data shows a 65% to 75% return rate if the touchback is moved to the 35, more than double the rate in the 2024 season. There was also a proposal that would have allowed onside kicks to be attempted by a losing team at any point in a game (instead of just the fourth quarter), but that proposal has been tabled. 
• Flexing rules for Thursday night games to undergo a slight change. For the past two years, the NFL has been able to flex any Thursday night game held between Week 13 and Week 17, but the league had to give 28 days notice. However, that's no longer the case. The owners have voted to to trim that number down to 21 days, which means the NFL can now wait longer before deciding whether to flex a Thursday game. We've got the full details on this new policy here. 
• NFL modifies uniform policy. If you love throwback jerseys, then you're going to love this new policy: NFL teams can now wear their throwback or alternate uniforms a total of four times per season. Under the previous policy, that number was just three. Teams will also now be allowed to wear their alternate pants in the postseason, which wasn't permitted under the old policy. One other thing that was approved is that teams will be able to wear their alternate helmet with their regular uniform. You can check out our full story on the uniform changes here. 
• Replay assist can now help with even more penalties. With owners approving the expansion of replay assist, five new penalties can now be overturned by the booth: Hitting a defenseless player, face mask, horse-collar tackle, tripping and roughing/running into the kicker. One notable aspect of this proposal is that replay assist will not call penalties that weren't flagged on the field. For instance, if an obvious face mask is missed on the field, replay assist can't go back and tell the referee to throw a penalty on the play. However, if a face mask flag is thrown on a play where a face mask penalty didn't actually happen, then replay assist can step in to have the flag picked up. The NFL is limiting the scope of replay assist to objective penalties that can be overturned with "clear and obvious" video evidence. 
• Proposal to change playoff format gets tabled. Under this proposal, a wild-card team could be seeded higher than a division-winning team if the wild-card team has a better record. All division winners would still be guaranteed a playoff berth, but they wouldn't be guaranteed a home playoff game. If this rule had been in place last season, the 14-3 Vikings would have been the third seed in the NFC instead of the fifth seed. Apparently, quite a few teams liked this idea. Instead of voting it down, the owners decided to table it until the next league meeting in May, so it could get approved then. CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones noted that more teams than you think were open to it. 
• NFL owners can't come to a decision on the 'Tush Push.' There was a proposal on the table to ban the 'Tush Push,' but after a contentious debate, the owners decided not to hold a vote on the issue. The ban could still happen, but the the NFL wants to have more discussion about the topic before possibly dumping the play. The owners could still vote on a possible ban at the next league meeting in May, but if there's no vote at that point, then the play will likely be sticking around for at least another season. 

The NFL's next league meeting is May 20-21 in Minnesota, so if there's a vote on the new playoff seeding format or the "Tush Push," that's when they'll take place. 

2. NFL's international presence gets even bigger: League eyeing possible game in Middle East

The NFL's Global Markets Program underwent a major expansion this week by adding four new teams and two new markets (Greece and the United Arab Emirates).

Here's what you need to know. 

• Four new teams are going global. The Ravens (United Kingdom), Packers (Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom), Chargers (Greece) and Commanders (United Arab Emirates) were all granted rights to an international market for the first time. With the addition of these four teams, that means 29 of the NFL's 32 teams have now been granted international rights in at least one market (The Bills, Bengals and Titans are the only three teams that haven't been granted a market in the program). 
• NFL eyeing the Middle East. For the first ever, multiple teams were granted rights to the United Arab Emirates: the Rams, 49ers and Commanders. The NFL could soon be putting a game in either Dubai or Abu Dhabi. NFL executive Peter O'Reilly said Monday that the league has a "strong interest" in playing a game in the Middle East. The league actually toured Abu Dhabi last year, so it won't be surprising if the UAE capital eventually lands a game. 
• Two notable pairings. With the Packers being granted rights in Ireland, it's starting to feel like Green Bay could end up facing the Steelers in Dublin. However, if Aaron Rodgers is playing for the Steelers, the NFL might decide to keep that game in the United States. Another interesting pairing is the Seahawks getting Australia. The NFL will be holding a game in Australia for the first time in 2026, and it now won't be a shock if the Seahawks are involved. The Rams will be the home team, so the Seahawks could certainly be the road team. 

We've got a full story on the NFL's global marketing expansion, and you can check it out here. 

3. Browns totally regret the Deshaun Watson trade

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It's not often that you hear an NFL owner admit that his team totally messed up, but that's exactly what happened on Monday with Jimmy Haslam. The Browns owner was asked about the Deshaun Watson trade and he definitely didn't try to hide his feelings about the deal. 

Here's what he had to say:

• Haslam admitted the Browns missed bad. "We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun," Haslam said. "We thought we had the quarterback, we didn't and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him. So we've got to dig ourselves out of that hole. [It] was an entire organization decision, and it ends with Dee [Haslam] and I, so hold us accountable."
• Watson's time with Cleveland is all but over. The surprising thing about Haslam's comments is that Watson is still under contract for two more years (2025 and 2026). The QB is recovering from a torn Achilles, so he likely won't be able to play much in 2025, but he could have certainly returned for 2026. However, based on Haslam's words, it's pretty clear that the team is ready to move on and that Watson will likely never play another down for Cleveland. 
• Browns got nothing in return. When the Browns traded for Watson in March 2022, they gave him a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract. So what did the Browns get for their money? Watson has only played in 19 games over three seasons and he threw 12 interceptions in those games.  

On Monday, Pete Prisco made the case that the Watson deal will go down as the "worst trade" in NFL history, and you can read his comments here. 

4. Top NFL Draft storylines to keep an eye on as the calendar hits April

With the calendar flipping over to April, that means the NFL Draft is THIS MONTH. In just 23 days, the draft will be kicking off in Green Bay and since it's now so close, Josh Edwards decided to take a look at a few storylines that will probably be talked about a lot between now and the start of the draft on April 24. 

We're going to check out three of those storylines below: 

• Will the Titans trade the top pick? "This offseason, the Titans have signed two veteran offensive linemen and those investments likely weren't made to protect Will Levis, Brandon Allen and Tim Boyle. Unless the Titans are a surprise contender for Kirk Cousins, the stage seems to be set for Cam Ward."
• Where will Shedeur Sanders get drafted? "My comparison to the Sanders situation is similar to the one that played out with Will Levis. There are a few teams that could draft him in the top 10 overall, but if they go in a different direction, then he could slide down a bit."
• Which veterans might get traded during the draft? "If the Titans or Browns do not draft a quarterback in the first round, then Cousins could come in to play. If Cincinnati is unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension with pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, then he could be a candidate to be traded. Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert and Raiders tight end Michael Mayer have been the subject of trade talks, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Falcons moved tight end Kyle Pitts. Steelers wide receiver George Pickens, Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II are three others to monitor."

You can check out all five of our storylines to watch here.  

5. Raiders seven-round mock draft: Vegas takes a QB, but not in the first round

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The Raiders are definitely one of the most intriguing teams in the NFL Draft this year. They have a new head coach (Pete Carroll), they have a new general manager (John Spytek) and they also have Tom Brady, who seems to have a huge say in every big decision made by the organization.

This team also had a ton of holes on its roster, and if you're wondering how it's going to fill those holes, Jordan Dajani has your answer. Jordan did a SEVEN-ROUND mock draft for the Raiders. With that in mind, let's check out their first four picks: 

• Round 1 (6th overall): RB Ashton Jeanty (Boise State)
• Round 2 (37th overall): S Xavier Watts (Notre Dame)
• Round 3 (68th overall): WR Jack Bech (Texas Christian)
• Round 4 (108th overall): QB Kyle McCord (Syracuse) 

The Raiders have a total of nine picks in the draft this year, and if you check out Jordan's mock, which you can see here, he has a projection for every single one of those picks. 

6. Extra points: Falcons open to trading Kirk Cousins

It was a busy weekend in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• Kirk Cousins could get traded. The Falcons have insisted that they plan to keep Kirk Cousins, but coach Raheem Morris did admit on Tuesday that if a good trade opportunity comes up, the Falcons will definitely look into it. If the head coach starts talking about the possibility of trading a player, there's a good chance that player is going to be traded. You can read Morris' full comments here. 
• Bill Parcells to be inducted into Patriots Hall of Fame. The Patriots have decided to add Parcells to their Hall of Fame. Although he was only the coach in New England for four seasons (1993-96), he had a solid run, taking the Patriots to the playoffs two times, which included one Super Bowl appearance. The Pro Football Hall of Famer is the only coach in NFL history to lead four different teams to the playoffs and three different teams to a conference title game. 
• Richard Sherman's family robbed at gunpoint inside their home. The former NFL All-Pro was the victim of an armed robbery that took place with his family inside the home. Sherman took to social media on Monday asking for help to find the perpetrators. You can check out the full details of the story here. 
• NFL will have a Christmas tripleheader in 2025. The NFL is going to be taking over Christmas this year. The holiday, which is on a Thursday in 2025, will feature three games with two of those on Netflix and one on Amazon.