The NFL tested electronic first-down tracking during preseason, a method that, once perfected, could replace chains during the regular season.
There’s still a ways to go before that happens, though.
“The league continued to test the system during the just-completed preseason and had left open the possibility of using it during this regular season,” Mark Maske of the Washington Post wrote earlier this week. “Instead, the system will go into regular season use in 2025 at the earliest, according to the person with knowledge of the situation.”
Maske also noted that even if the electronic system does eventually go into full-time use, the 10-yard chains are expected to remain on NFL sidelines as a backup method for measuring first downs.
It is nowhere near ready. It was used 3x in our 3 preseason games, took double the time it would take the chain gang, and everyone awkwardly stood around waiting for the referee to announce whether or not it was a first down. https://t.co/jP5mTvP2UJ
— mattmoneysmith (@mattmoneysmith) August 27, 2024
So while the chains are often mocked as outdated technology, they are still the NFL’s best method, at least for now. That could change in the future, but it won’t change this season.
