How do you identify eligible/ineligible recievers?

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by Brandon Kincer

If one of the two ends or both of the two ends is off the line of scrimmage are they still eligible?

One of the most common points of confusion relating to understanding football rules is getting tied up in the "language" of football.

There are hundreds of terms or descriptions that capably and effectively describe very specific situations that simply cannot, or at the least should not, be used to describe other situations.

A commonly misused term is "end". Every line, including those in football has two ends, one on one side, one on the other. There are two inseparable requirements for any player, who is on the line of scrimmage to be eligible to catch a forward pass; he has to be standing on the outside edge, the "end" of either side of the line and wear a number between 1-49 or 80-99.

A "Back", basically, is anyone not on the line and behind it (Actual definition is NF: 2.32.3). If that back also wants to be eligible to catch a forward pass, he too, has to be wearing a number between 1-49 or 80-99.

If a player is wearing an eligible number, and is anywhere on the LOS, but either end, he's not eligible by position. If #88 lines up on one end, and #22 shifts to a position wider towards the sideline, and makes the mistake of moving up to the LOS, he's still an eligible receiver but he's taken eligibility away from #88, who is no longer on the end of the line.

Now, as often happens, when #22 steps up to the line, #88 takes a full step back, establishing himself as a "back", and he retains his pass catching eligibility.

Everyone harps on reading Rule 2, becuase it's so important to know and understand what the "official" definitions actually are. Thery are the only definitions that count and may be ever so slightly different than definitions all sorts of people use to try and describe things.

There is simply no getting around knowing and understanding Rule 2.