NFL making it more difficult for teams to turn down appearing on 'Hard Knocks'

Rule changes that affect the on-field product weren’t the only thing NFL owners voted on this week at the annual league meeting  in Orlando, Florida.

In addition to banning the hip-drop tackle and changing the kickoff to a new hybrid format, league owners also voted to alter the rules for the HBO docuseries “Hard Knocks,” via CBS Sports.

The criteria for the preseason iteration of the show has been changed to widen the pool of prospective teams.

Teams can turn down appearing on “Hard Knocks” if they meet one of three conditions: they have a first-year head coach, they will participate in the in-season version of the show during the current or following year or they have appeared on the show within the last eight seasons.

The NFL did away with the condition that a team could turn the show down if it had played in the playoffs in either of the last two years, and the number of years between a team’s last appearance was reduced from 10 to eight.

Additionally, the in-season version, which began back in 2021, will feature all four teams in a specific division as opposed to the previous format of one team. This was likely done to eliminate the filming being a distraction to one team thus creating a competitive advantage for the other three teams in the division.