NFL owners approve new catch rule

(KMSP) - At the NFL owners meetings Tuesday in Orlando, league owners approved of three new rule changes, and one of them is expected to make wide receivers a lot happier.

The NFL defines a catch as control of the ball, two feet down or another part of the body, and making a football move like a third step or reaching and extending for the goal line.

Sounds simple, right?

In the past, any type of ball movement in the receiver's hands would often lead to an incompletion. That is no longer the case.

If a receiver is going to the ground while attempting to make a catch - as in sliding for a catch or diving for one - he still needs to have full control in order for the catch to be ruled complete.

So infamous catches like the one Dez Bryant made a few years ago for the Cowboys in the NFC Divisional against Green Bay, that would be a catch in today's NFL.

The catch that Steelers tight end Jesse James made last season in a game against New England that ended in controversy - that's now a catch.