Key takeaways
- Read every flag as two parts: the distance (usually 5, 10 or 15 yards) and what comes with it, such as a loss of down or an automatic first down.
- Under the NFL rule, a defensive foul gives the offence a new first-and-10 unless it is on a short list of mostly pre-snap fouls such as offside, encroachment and delay of game.
- On running plays most fouls are measured from where the run ended; only an offensive foul behind that spot is measured from the spot of the foul.
- The fouled team can decline almost any penalty, so always compare the penalty result with the result of the play before deciding.
- Defensive pass interference is a spot foul in the NFL but is capped at 15 yards from the previous spot in college football, which changes how deep throws are valued.
Most NFL penalties cost the offending team 5, 10 or 15 yards. The number is the easy part. What makes a flag confusing is what comes attached to it: whether the down is replayed or lost, whether the offence also earns a first down, and which spot the yards are measured from. All of that is written into the league's rulebook. This guide follows the version in force for the 2026 season, groups the common fouls by when they happen, and then walks through how the yardage is actually enforced.
The short version
| Foul | Usually committed by | Yardage | What else happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| False start | Offence | 5 | Whistled dead before the snap |
| Encroachment, neutral zone infraction | Defence | 5 | Whistled dead before the snap; no automatic first down |
| Offside | Usually the defence | 5 | Judged at the snap; no automatic first down |
| Delay of game, illegal formation | Usually the offence | 5 | Nothing extra |
| Defensive holding, illegal contact | Defence | 5 | Automatic first down |
| Ineligible player downfield on a pass | Offence | 5 | Measured from the previous spot |
| Offensive holding | Offence | 10 | Measured from the spot of the foul or the previous spot |
| Offensive pass interference | Offence | 10 | Measured from the previous spot |
| Defensive pass interference | Defence | To the spot of the foul | First down; at the 1-yard line if the foul is in the end zone |
| Intentional grounding | Offence | 10, or back to the spot of the pass | Loss of down; a safety if thrown from the end zone |
| Roughing the passer, unnecessary roughness, face mask | Either | 15 | Automatic first down when the defence commits it |
Two general rules sit over the whole table. First, the team that was fouled can decline almost any penalty and keep the result of the play instead (Rule 14-1-1). Second, after a defensive foul the offence gets a new first-and-10, except after a short list of fouls that are mostly committed before or at the snap: offside, encroachment, neutral zone infraction, delay of game, too many players, and a few others (Rule 14-1-2). For those, the down stays the same unless the five yards reach the line to gain.
Before the snap
A false start is an offensive foul. Once the ball is ready for play, a player who has set may not move in a way that simulates the start of the play. An interior lineman who has taken a three-point stance may not move his down hand or shift position, and a receiver on the line may not move forward once the offence has been set for a full second. Officials blow the whistle immediately, and the penalty is five yards from the line of scrimmage, enforced before any snap.
The defence has three fouls that look alike from the stands:
- Encroachment: a defender enters the neutral zone and contacts an offensive player or the ball before the snap. Dead immediately; five yards.
- Neutral zone infraction: a defender moves into the neutral zone and makes a nearby offensive player react, or ends up with an unimpeded path to the quarterback or kicker. Also dead immediately; five yards.
- Offside: any part of a player's body is in or beyond the neutral zone when the ball is put in play. Because it is judged at the snap, the play has already started. Five yards.
So "false start versus offside" is really "an offensive player before the snap versus any player at the snap". The distinction matters on third-and-short. A defensive offside on third-and-3 gives the offence a first down only because five yards is more than three, not because the foul carries one. On third-and-7 the same flag leaves it at third-and-2.
Delay of game and illegal formation complete the common pre-snap list. Both cost five yards and nothing more.
During the play
Holding
Offensive holding costs 10 yards. The 2026 rulebook describes it as using the hands or arms to "materially restrict or alter the defender's path or angle of pursuit", and says it is a foul whether the blocker's hands are inside or outside the defender's frame. Grabbing, hooking, twisting or pulling a defender to the ground are the listed examples. The rule also lists moments when holding is not called, such as action away from the point of attack and outside close-line play.
Defensive holding costs only five yards, but it brings an automatic first down. It covers a defender who tackles or holds anyone other than the runner, including a defender who grabs a receiver or his jersey on a pass play.
Contact with receivers
Within five yards of the line of scrimmage, a defender may chuck a receiver who is in front of him. Beyond that zone, while the quarterback is still in the pocket with the ball, he may not initiate contact with a receiver who is trying to evade him. Illegal contact is five yards and an automatic first down. Those restrictions end once the quarterback leaves the pocket with the ball, although the ban on defensive holding does not.
Pass interference
Pass interference is an act by a player more than one yard beyond the line that significantly hinders an eligible player's chance to catch a forward pass thrown from behind the line. The defensive version applies from the throw until the ball is touched. The offensive version applies from the snap, which is why a receiver blocking a defender downfield before the throw can be flagged. Contact on a pass that is clearly uncatchable is not interference.
The two penalties are lopsided. Offensive pass interference is 10 yards from the previous spot. Defensive pass interference is a first down at the spot of the foul, however far downfield that is. If the foul is in the end zone, the ball goes to the 1-yard line, or halfway to the goal line if the previous spot was already inside the 2.
Intentional grounding
A passer facing an imminent loss of yardage because of pressure may not throw a pass that is not in the direction and vicinity of an originally eligible receiver. The foul is not called when the passer is outside the pocket area and the ball lands at or beyond the line of scrimmage, and a spike thrown straight into the ground immediately after the snap is permitted to stop the clock. The penalty is a loss of down plus either 10 yards from the previous spot or the spot of the pass, whichever is worse for the offence, and it is a safety if the passer was in his own end zone.
The lineman downfield
On a pass play, an ineligible player such as an offensive lineman may not be more than one yard beyond the line before the ball is thrown, unless he is still engaged in a block that began at the line. It is a five-yard foul from the previous spot. The NCAA's 2026 rules allow three yards instead of one.
Fifteen-yard fouls
Roughing the passer, unnecessary roughness, face-mask fouls, horse-collar and hip-drop tackles, and taunting are among the fouls that cost 15 yards. When the defence commits one, it is also an automatic first down, and a flagrant foul can bring a disqualification.
How the yards are walked off
Knowing the distance is half the job. The other half is the spot it is measured from. The rulebook names several, including the previous spot (where the ball was last put in play), the spot of the foul, the dead-ball spot, and the succeeding spot (where the ball would next be put in play).
Pass plays use the previous spot for fouls between the snap and the end of the pass. The main exceptions are defensive pass interference and intentional grounding, covered above, plus personal and unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, which can be enforced from the end of the play instead (Rule 8-6-1).
Running plays use what the rulebook calls the three-and-one method. Take the spot where the run ended, which the rules call the basic spot. Any defensive foul, and any offensive foul beyond the basic spot, is enforced from there, unless the run ended behind the line of scrimmage, in which case a defensive foul goes back to the previous spot. Only an offensive foul behind the basic spot is enforced from the spot of the foul. Offensive fouls behind the line of scrimmage go back to the previous spot, and an offensive foul in the offence's own end zone gives the defence the option of a safety.
Half the distance. No distance penalty can move the ball more than half the distance to the offending team's goal line (Rule 14-2-1). A false start at your own 6 is not five yards but three, which leaves the ball at the 3.
Three walk-throughs
- Holding on a run. Second-and-8 at your own 30, so the line to gain is the 38. The back runs to the 42, but a guard held at the 36. That is an offensive foul behind the basic spot, so it is enforced from the spot of the foul: 10 yards back from the 36 puts the ball at the 26. Because the offence fouled and the ball is short of the line to gain, the down does not advance, and it is second-and-12. The defence accepts, because declining would hand the offence a first down at the 42.
- Defensive holding on an incomplete pass. Third-and-7 at your own 40. The pass falls incomplete, but a cornerback held. Five yards from the previous spot plus the automatic first down makes it first-and-10 at your 45.
- Interference on a deep ball. First-and-10 at your own 40, and the defender interferes at the opponent's 25, 35 yards downfield. In the NFL that is first-and-10 at the opponent's 25. Under the NCAA's 2026 rules, interference 15 or more yards beyond the previous spot is enforced 15 yards from that spot instead, which would put the ball at the opponent's 45.
Declining a penalty
Unless a rule expressly prohibits it, the offended team may decline any penalty, and play proceeds as if no foul had happened. It may even accept a penalty but decline its yardage.
Declining is common, and the decision is usually arithmetic. Holding against the offence on a third-down incompletion would replay third down ten yards further back, so the defence declines and takes the fourth down. A defensive offside on a play that gained 20 yards is declined by the offence for the same reason. When both teams foul during the same down, the fouls usually offset and the down is replayed. When one team commits several fouls on one play, the other team chooses which single penalty to enforce, with a few exceptions, such as a personal foul that is also defensive pass interference, where both can be enforced.
Where a career sim fits
A flag rarely decides a game on its own. What it does is knock a series off schedule. Second-and-12 asks a different question of a quarterback than second-and-2, and that is the part of this rulebook detail that carries over to Football Career Sim 2026, the quarterback career game, whose drives are built from downs, distance, field position, timeouts and clock management. Its leagues, teams and players are fictional, but the down-and-distance arithmetic is the same.
For the situations penalties most often bend, see clock management in the final two minutes and reading a defence before the snap. If you would rather build a roster than play under centre, the football drafting guide explains why football is judged unit by unit, and football positions explained covers who lines up where. More rules explainers sit on our American football hub and across the sports career and GM articles.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How many yards are the most common NFL penalties?
What is the difference between a false start and offside?
Can you decline a holding penalty?
Which defensive penalties do not give an automatic first down?
How is pass interference enforced in college football compared with the NFL?
Sources
- 2026 NFL Rulebook (opens in a new tab)NFL Football Operations — accessed
- 2026 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations (opens in a new tab)National Collegiate Athletic Association — accessed
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