NFL considers 15-minute regular-season overtime, with both teams guaranteed a possession

The NFL could expand regular-season overtime to 15 minutes and guarantee both teams the opportunity to possess the ball, if a new rule proposal passes at the upcoming league meeting.

The rule change was proposed by the Eagles, who said that overtime in the regular season should be more like overtime in the playoffs.

The league's summary of the rule change reads as follows: "By Philadelphia; amends Rule 16, Section 1, to align the postseason and regular season overtime rules by granting both teams an opportunity to possess the ball regardless of the outcome of the first possession, subject to a 15-minute overtime period in the regular season."

Under current rules, the team that receives the overtime kickoff can win a regular-season game by scoring a touchdown on its first possession. Only in the playoffs would the other team then get an opportunity to score after giving up an opening-possession touchdown, but the proposed rule would make that the case in the regular season as well.

And the current rules also limit overtime to 10 minutes in the regular season. The proposed change would start overtime with 15:00 on the clock, as is the case in the postseason. The difference is that in the regular season the game would end in a tie if the score is still tied after one 15-minute period, while in the postseason there are no ties and the teams keep playing if the game is tied after 15 minutes.