TIME to Eliminate Jersey-Numbering Requirement Rule

Throughout football history, responsible innovation has always pushed the game further ahead than some people anticipated, notably the legalizing of the Forward Pass in large part to vastly improve player safety.

Today, with the shocking size and speed of the players from the high school level on up to the Pros, the game is about to surpass the Critical Mass threshold in terms of how much punishment the players can handle or absorb throughout the course of a game or a season within the current dimensions of the football field and coupled with the outdated and antiquated jersey-numbering requirement rules that greatly restrict excellent creative freedoms regarding formations, motions and eligibility.

The elimination of the jersey-numbering requirement rule has already proven that it inherently offers numerous benefits for the athletes:

1. It allows every player an option to be super-spread out across the field of play to keep the defense more honest

2. Instantly, the players are now all interchangeable and potentially eligible by Formation Only - which keeps the defense guessing and thereby less able to just tee-off on certain offensive players

3. It's easier for all of the players on O and D to "see things coming" their way because they are often spaced far apart.

4. Most importantly, the head-to-head banging between the players is greatly reduced because the offensive players on the O-Line are usually in a two-point stance most of the game, and so you have drastically reduced the chance of concussions occuring.

5. Inadvertent pile-ups are greatly reduced because of the wide spaces between most players, and you have far less blown out knees and ankles from the entanglements.


As football coaches and fans, we OWE it to the Players to ALWAYS make the Proper and Responsible Innovative adjustments to Maximize their safety on the field of play.

The Elimination of the Jersey Numbering Requirement is not only Long Overdue, it's exactly the right tonic to drastically improve player safety, and nothing is more important than that.