Which new NFL rules are the best and worst for the Steelers?

This past week at the spring NFL league meeting, there were several rules that were accepted for the 2025 season. Some had to do with game play while others are off-field issues.

On the most recent episode of the Pittsburgh Standard Time podcast, Greg Benevent and I looked at all the rule changes, and some that were not accepted, and discussed how they would impact the Pittsburgh Steelers. After looking at all the rules, there were two specific ones that stood out above the others with one being good and the other appearing to be bad.

Here are the two rules that we concluded had the biggest impact on the 2025 Steelers. Let’s start with the bad…

Dynamic Kickoff: Moving a touchback to the 35-yard line

Expectation: Bad

Whenever a kickoff goes directly into the opponent’s end zone with the NFL‘s new dynamic kickoff rule, it is set to benefit the receiving team more in 2025. Last year in the first season the new dynamic kickoff is implemented, even though it was proposed that a touchback would come out to the 35-yard line, it was changed late in the process to where a touchback went to the 30-yard line and that is where it stood for the 2024 season. But now, the kickoff will come out to the 35-yard line in hopes that teams will not just simply kick directly into the end zone and there will be more kickoff returns.

For the Steelers, basing it off the 2024 data, this is not a good thing.

For many Steelers fans, the Steelers inability to keep their opponents from having a decent return had many of us screaming at our televisions to simply kick the ball into the end zone. Based on the numbers, this would have been a good idea for the Steelers as they gave up an average of 28.9 yards per kickoff return last season which had them tied for 25th in the NFL. Even though it felt like their opponents were constantly starting closer to the 40-yard line after a kickoff, with a touchback going to the 35-yard line there’s not much incentive for the Steelers to keep the opposition from returning the kick.

But that’s only half the story.

Although the Steelers received plenty of touchbacks as well, their opponents would have been better off not doing so. And now with kickoffs coming out to the 35-yard line, I imagine the Steelers receiving a touchback will be even more of a rare thing. When it came to returning kicks last season, the Steelers were last in the NFL with a 23.0-yard average.

With the Steelers being on the wrong side of things both when it comes to kicking off and receiving a kickoff, changes to the rules to make more kickoff returns happen will not be to their benefit unless they’re able to turn things around.

Speaking to players during the legal tampering period

Expectation: Good

Of course the rule that the Steelers proposed and was passed is one that is likely going to benefit them the most. With the current rules behind the legal tampering period, which occurs for 52 hours before the beginning of the new league year, teams can only talk to agents to come up with contract deals that can then be signed once the new league year kicks off. There is no contact directly with players, even to make arrangements to get into town, until the 4 PM Wednesday deadline passes.

Now, teams can speak to players themselves either over video conference or the phone once the legal tampering period begins. Teams will be limited to only speak to five players, but this allows them to be in contact and make the sales pitch directly to who will be joining their team if they agree to a contract.

Love him or hate him, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is good at player relationships. It is probably his greatest strength by a wide margin. As long as Coach Tomlin is in Pittsburgh, it will benefit the Steelers to be able to speak to players directly before they come to deals with other teams. With the Steelers front office, as well as Mike Tomlin, being able to make the pitch directly to the player, they are less likely to miss out on someone whose agents are looking strictly at the money and not the culture of the team.

To hear a full breakdown of how all the new rules might affect the Steelers, check out the latest episode of Pittsburgh Standard Time below: