What do you think about the rule in football that a blocker or holder needs to be declared an eligible receiver to catch a pass?

The only players who are allowed to catch the ball are the goal keepers.

Personally, I don’t like it. If the guy can catch the ball, that takes a certain amount of ability. Why penalize the team because a player did something good? However, that’s only my opinion. I assume that the rule is there to make the game more challenging.

Blockers are eligible receivers, if they are identified as such to the ref before the beginning of the play, and if one of the previously eligible receivers stays behind the line of scrimmage.
So they can’t do it randomly. It has to be part of a planned play.

@filmfann Do you agree with that rule? I just think if something happens with a play and the person with the ball sees an opening and someone who usually blocks is good enough to catch the ball, that should be seen as skillful I would think. I was surprised there was some sort of rule that stifles a player’s ability to react to what is going on and do his best to score.

You could make the argument that they have these restrictions, so that the opposing team can focus on specific players, so the lazy fucks do not have to run that much to intercept players they did not expect having to intercept.

Stanford didn’t fake that field goal, the holder muffed the snap that came at him. I think the rule makes perfect sense.

The rule is in place because a certain number of people have to block, it’s a key part of the game and is the biggest difference between backyard football and organized football.

With no blockers you’d just line up 10 receivers. Why block at all? It’s complicated, prone to penalties, and the guys blocking are always at a disadvantage to the guys rushing. The game would be 95% passing.

Most of the formation rules are a result, as is the rule that blockers can’t catch passes.

It’s like saying you disagree with soccer because they can’t use their hands, or hockey because they can’t just pick the puck up and skate with it. I’m sure they could do so skillfully.

It’s just a basic rule to make the rest work.

@JLeslie Think of a short yardage situation. Everyone comes to the line, the ball is snapped to the quarterback and all of the defenders mark the offensive players. No one rushes the quarterback because that releases a receiver. Everyone stands around watching everyone else. Sound exciting?