Ejections are no longer at the sole discretion of the on-field officials.
The NFL’s owners voted today on a new rule that authorizes a designated member of the officiating department to instruct on-field game officials to eject a player who commits “a flagrant non-football act,” if a foul for that act is called on the field.
That would allow for ejections in cases like Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans shoving Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore, and Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski jumping on Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White. In those cases, Evans and Gronkowski got 15-yard penalties, but not ejections.
Now the league office has the authority to step in and tell the officials to kick a player out of the game in a situation like that. Which means we could see more ejections in 2018.