The 2016 NFL season is quickly approaching.

Currently the off-season is deep into free-agency. The NFL combine has taken place in Indianapolis with college players getting put through the ringer. With that comes the NFL coaches and upper management anxiously awaiting who they will pick in the upcoming draft in April to get their team to the next level.

With that being said, make sure as a fan you are prepared to watch those players perform under some new rules.

Because besides the players having off-season, so too did then owners who each year meet to discuss rule changes. In all, 18 rules were submitted for approval and 7 passed.

First and foremost, the experiment with the extra points from last season is now official. Teams will conduct the extra point from the 15 yardline from this point on. This should greatly improve competition and probed to really spocew things up last season.

Now on to the new stuff:

Permits offensive and defensive play callers on staff to use the coach-to-player communication system whether they are on the field or in the coaches' booth.
-This one is a no brainer, but many fans probably are unaware this was not allowed up until this point. This should really give teams more competition as the actual coach for each side can add their 2 cents (so to speak)...It could also spice things up in terms of arguments between coaches in some cases, which will be interesting to watch out for.

Makes all chop blocks illegal.
-Besides concussions, the next big plague that is harming the NFL is the amount of ACL, PCL blank blank L, etc...injuries to knees. This should help off-set the numbers a bit.

Expands the horse collar rule to include when a defender grabs the jersey at the name plate or above and pulls a runner toward the ground.
-How many times have you seen it...yelling from your couch at home "HoRSE-COLLAR" just to see the replay showing the player was actually brought down by the jersey. Again...to many knee injuries and essentially the same thing as inside the collar. Its dangerous and a good move to help save the game.

Makes it a foul for delay of game when a team attempts to call a timeout when it is not allowed.
-Makes sense...most other sports do this. In fact, some sports penalize it much harsher like basketball. Calling a TO without one, there, will lose you the ball if you have it and gives the other team free-throws.

Eliminates the five-yard penalty for eligible receiver illegally touching a pass after being out of bounds and re-establishing himself inbounds. instead makes it a loss of down.
-Another smart choice...often times the player does not even know he is out, and they are naturally and instinctively going to try and make a play on the ball. They do not get awarded a catch if they make it, so why penalize them.

Eliminates multiple spots of enforcement for a double foul after a change of possession.
-This one here is just a mouthful for me...too dumb of a rule to even care.

Overall I must say ,I give the NFL a B+. A couple could have stayed the same, many help competition, others help the game stay safe.

Picture:https://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/6523387289/in/photolist-ps7q...