The National Football League is looking to replace its chain-gang measurement system with the high-tech Hawk-Eye virtual technology to measure first downs starting with the 2025 season.
“Among the interesting items from an NFL football ops session with media: the Hawk-Eye virtual measurement for line to gain is slated to replace the chains as the primary measurement system for the regular season in 2025,” an X post on Wednesday from NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo read.
“The chain gang will remain on sidelines as a backup,” he added. “Average time to measure with the chains: 75 seconds. Virtual measurements in the testing phase: 30 seconds.”
The league said that an average of 12 weekly measurements took place during last season, the New York Post noted.
Among the interesting items from an NFL football ops session with media: the Hawk-Eye virtual measurement for line to gain is slated to replace the chains as the primary measurement system for the regular season in 2025.
The chain gang will remain on sidelines as a backup. pic.twitter.com/v9exggobVc
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 26, 2025
The decision can be made without a vote from the owners of the 32 NFL teams, according to The Washington Post.
“The whole effort was to begin taking a look at it, to see what worked, what didn’t work,” Walt Anderson, the NFL’s officiating rules analyst and club communications liaison, said back in August, per the outlet.
Interestingly, the officials must first place the ball on the field manually following the play and then the Hawk-Eye virtual measurement will assess if a ball has made it past the line to gain or not, the Post noted.
“This is post spotting the ball,” NFL senior vice president of football business strategy Kimberly Fields told The Washington Post. “The officials on the field will still determine where forward progress ends.”
The technology was first tested during the 2024 preseason, with a growing group calling for it to become a reality following what some felt was a questionable first-down call during the AFC Championship between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.
However, the Hawk-Eye virtual measurement might not have had an effect on the Chiefs-Buffalo game because the officials on the field are the ones who determine if Bills QB Josh Allen would’ve gained a first down in the game or not. During that playoffs game, the officials determined Allen was indeed short of the first down after he attempted to do a quarterback sneak.
The ball was then handed over to the Chiefs, who went down and scored and eventually went on to win the game, securing the team’s third straight trip to the Super Bowl.
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