Why the NFL is making illegal formation a point of emphasis

It took just one game of the 2024 season to land NFL officiating back in the discourse.

On the second play of Thursday night's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens , referee Shawn Hochuli's crew penalized Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley for illegal formation, a 5-yard penalty that in this case meant Stanley was lined up too deep. An offensive lineman's helmet must be even with his center's waist by rule, but Stanley was lined up further back, which can create an advantage for the offense and make it harder for the defense's pass rushers to beat a tackle.

Three plays later, the same penalty was called, this time on Ravens right tackle Patrick Mekari . And then Stanley was flagged again on the very next play.

Three illegal formation penalties in seven plays on the first drive of the 2024 NFL season.

A string of flags that might have been surprising to viewers had its origins in earlier conversations within the league. Three team and league sources told ESPN that the NFL officiating department informed teams of a looming point of emphasis on illegal formation prior to the third week of the preseason. Hochuli's crew took it particularly seriously, throwing four such flags against the New England Patriots on four consecutive drives. A total of eight were called across the league that week. (There were 13 such penalties in the first two weeks of the preseason combined.)

Earlier this week, the NFL officiating department sent a teaching tape and a memo to every team to detail expectations for the regular season. An NFL spokesperson said Friday in an email: "There has been a point of emphasis on all line of scrimmage violations, including illegal formations on both sides of the ball, alignment of receivers, pre-snap movements by offense and defense, and illegal motion."

Speaking Friday to reporters, Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said he expects to discuss the emphasis during his standard pregame meeting with officials 90 minutes before the start of his team's game Sunday at the New York Giants .

"They really want to enforce it," O'Connell said, "which I think is the right thing."

Thursday night's game evoked how the 2023 season started, when Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor was called out on the NBC broadcast for seemingly lining up illegally, though Taylor was not flagged in that Week 1 game against the Lions. Taylor was flagged for illegal formation once in both Weeks 2 and 3. Despite the public attention the penalty received in those cases, officials ultimately called 55 total offensive illegal formation penalties in 2023, the lowest total in the past 10 years.

But that low number doesn't mean players cleaned up their alignment last season. A source with direct knowledge of internal conversations among NFL officials said game officials gave teams more leeway last season, and instead of throwing flags, frequently reminded players and coaches to comply with the proper alignment. In many cases, the source said, tackles would adhere to the guidance for a few plays, and then inch backward again.

"They know exactly what they are doing," the source said. "Teams and players were basically taking advantage of it."

That source said officials were downgraded for not calling illegal formation last season, and this year's point of emphasis is an effort to improve consistency across crews and to train tackles to line up correctly.

Stanley was not flagged for illegal formation last season, and he told reporters he wasn't warned by the crew to move up before he was penalized on the second play of the game. Two sources with knowledge of conversations between game officials and teams said Baltimore's coaches were reminded about the point of emphasis before the game, and an officiating source said teams were made aware during the preseason that officials would issue a pregame reminder and one in-game warning before calling the penalty, unless the penalty was judged to be egregious, in which case officials could throw a flag without warning.

Stanley told reporters he believed he was singled out by officials (though Mikari and receiver Rashod Bateman were other Ravens offenders) because Taylor, the Chiefs right tackle, was aligned similarly and was flagged for two false starts but not for illegal formation.

"We were the first offensive series of the season with that, and I think they saw probably everybody watching it," Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters. "It'll be interesting to see if they call it the same way the whole season. I'll challenge them to call it the same way they called it tonight the whole season, so hopefully they'll be consistent about that."