One debate that has always been around the NFL is how many offensive holding calls may be overlooked by officials. Well, former star edge rusher J.J. Watt has a suggestion that could make officials make holding calls more often.
Many star defensive players have been open about their frustration about the lack of holding calls they generate in pass-rush situations. One of the biggest critics of the officials has been Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons.
On a recent episode of The Pat McAfee Show, Watt suggested that officials may be more open to calling holding on plays if it were a five-yard penalty instead of a ten-yard penalty on the offense.
“I think the refs understand that a 10-yard penalty is a massive penalty in the NFL,” Watt said. “So I think if you made it a 5-yard penalty, I think it’s going to be called much more fairly and much more realistically. Because it’s not as crippling to the offense.”
Watt’s opinion isn’t exactly a bad one. There could be some positives to making the penalty a less significant one.
That being said, it seems like he is overlooking the fact that the NFL is always looking to speed up play. More penalties in a game doesn’t exactly sound like something that they would be interested in implementing.
There is also the argument that holding could be called on pretty much every play if you were actively looking for it as an official. Otherwise, defensive players would probably have no issue getting into the offensive backfield almost immediately.
The chances of this actually being changed by the league appear to be extremely unlikely. But it would at least be an interesting thing to test to see if it does make a positive impact on the game for defensive players.
