Although the NFL has loosened the rules against celebrations, one restriction remains in place: Players can’t dunk the ball over the goal post.
NFL owners voted this week to roll back some of the league’s longstanding celebration penalties, including using the football as a prop. But according to ESPN the league still doesn’t allow dunking over the goal post because it considers that using the goal post as a prop, and because of the potential for delaying the game.
Then-Saints tight end Jimmy Graham delayed a game by about 20 minutes in 2013 when he dunked over a goal post and hit the cross bar in the process, knocking the goal post off-balance. The next offseason, the league banned dunks.
Graham criticized the league for that rule change, but it’s a rule the league feels strongly enough about that it will stay in place even after this week’s move to let players have a little more fun in the end zone.
