Illegal Formation - NFL Rule Question

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by MJT

Doesn't matter if he reports or not. Even an eligible numbered player is going to be called for a foul if covered up in the NFL. That is how their rule reads.

Yes, but one of the commonest variants used by leagues that'll tell you they're playing by strict NFL rules is to allow both eligible numbers to report ineligible and vice versa, as long as they do it before every down. (Mostly it's because of shortages of players and shirts.) Then again, it's not the officials' fault if the league never tells them about it. If the player were to report like that to the referee, I would take that as evidence that their league allows it. That evidence could be contradicted if the umpire reports it to the other team's captain and they say, "We don't allow that!"

Robert