Former NFL great Peyton Manning shook up the sports world this week by proposing a slew of radical rule changes—some lifted straight from the NBA’s recent tweaks. During a “ManningCast” segment, he laid out five ideas that range from playful to provocative.
“Here’s the full list of Peyton’s hilarious proposals:
Intercepted Hail Mary’s shouldn’t count against QBs
False start/offsides equity within the 10-yard line
Targets should not be an official statistic
Batted balls = Illegal!!!
Cash payments on the field for late hits”
Manning’s first suggestion takes direct inspiration from recent NBA changes: he argues that interceptions on Hail Mary throws at the end of a half should count as a team interception, not one assigned to the quarterback.
His second idea deals with fairness near the goal line—if an offense false starts and the defense jumps offsides immediately after, he proposes the offense gets back full yardage lost, rather than partial equity.
It’s the third proposal, though, that caught many eyeballs:
“Targets should not be an official statistic.” Manning complained that targeting metrics fuel friction between quarterbacks and receivers and questioned how these stats are reliably assigned.
Next, he proposed outlawing batted balls by defenders, calling them “lazy” plays that detract from the purity of the game.
Finally, in the most theatrical suggestion, he wants on-field cash payments for late hits—meaning a defensive player would physically hand over money in a briefcase to the quarterback as a public penalty.
While these ideas were floated in a tongue-in-cheek tone, they underscore Peyton Manning’s enduring voice in the conversation around how the NFL tracks stats, enforces fairness, and balances entertainment with integrity.
Peyton Manning’s NBA Inspiration: Why “Targets” Sparked the Push in NFL Rules Talk
Peyton Manning’s recent rule suggestions caught attention when he proposed that targets should not be an official statistic—a departure from how the game currently measures quarterback-to-receiver connections.
His pitch ties back to a shift in the NBA: under the new rule, long end-of-quarter shots launched last minute won’t count against a player’s shooting percentage. Manning reasoned the same logic should apply for quarterbacks on Hail Marys—throwing without penalty to individual stat lines when randomness enters play.
By removing targets as an official stat, Manning argued, you reduce built-in tension between passers and receivers. He questioned how analysts decide who a pass was “targeted” at when it’s batted or thrown away.
Critics might see this as whimsical, but Peyton Manning’s proposals draw attention to how much weight modern football puts on statistics—and how those numbers influence behavior, contracts, and game narrative.
If nothing else, his NBA-inspired ideas have already stirred debate in NFL circles. Whether any of them land in rulebooks remains to be seen—but Manning has clearly reopened the conversation.
For more basketball content, click on Hardwood Heroics. Sabel Reyes can be reached through sabelreyes22@gmail.com. Other websites under the Sports Heroics umbrella are Gridiron Heroics and Wisconsin Heroics.
Sabel has been working as a field reporter for People’s Television Network (PTV), mainly about the Philippine Basketball Association since 2016 and has been elevated to Executive Producer for sports in 2022. Aside from being on top of the Philippine sports scene, she is also a running enthusiast. You can also follow her on X at @SabelReyes2 and Instagram at @msabelreyes.
