How the Two-Point Conversion Came to the NFL
Colleges adopted the two-point try in 1958, a rival league used it in the 1960s, and the NFL waited until 1994. Here is why the idea took so long to reach the pros and what changed when it did.
A team scores a touchdown to cut the deficit to eight, and the extra-point kicker jogs onto the field. Or the offense stays on, and the quarterback takes a snap from the 2-yard line with one play to turn six points into eight. Fans now treat both options as ordinary, and a small card on the sideline tells the head coach which one to choose. It is easy to forget that for most of the NFL's history, that card did not exist, because the option it describes was not legal.
The two-point conversion came to the NFL in 1994. By then it was thirty-six years old in college football, and it had already had a ten-season run in a rival professional league. Why did it take the NFL so long, and what did it change when it finally arrived? This article traces the idea through three leagues, explains the rule, and clears up a few things people tend to get wrong.
What the rule does
After a touchdown, the scoring team gets one more untimed play, usually called the try or the conversion. It has two options. It can kick the ball through the uprights for one point, or it can run or pass the ball into the end zone from close range for two points. The ball is placed at a set distance from the goal line, and the play is live in the usual sense: the defense is trying to stop it, and the offense must carry or catch the ball over the goal line.
The distance depends on the level. The NFL spots the ball on the 2-yard line for the two-point try, and college football uses the 3-yard line. High school football under the National Federation of State High School Associations also uses the 3-yard line in its standard rule, although state associations make their own adjustments, so check your state's book. If you want the current rules in full, our guide to the two-point conversion explained covers them level by level.
The existence of the option is what matters for history. The extra point had been available since football's early days, when the kick after a touchdown was a significant source of points. But a try that offered more points for more risk was a newer idea.
Where the idea came from
The two-point conversion is a college invention. The NCAA rules committee adopted it in 1958, and the reasons given at the time were practical. Football at the college level did not have overtime in those days, so a tie game was a permitted result, and tied games were not popular with fans or coaches. Giving a team a way to go for a win with a single play after a late touchdown looked like a way to reduce the number of ties and to add suspense to the end of close games.
The original college version used the 3-yard line, and that spot stuck. For a team that trailed by a point or two late in a game, the option made the final minutes more interesting, and over the next decades the rule became part of how coaches thought about the end of every close game.
The American Football League
When a new professional league, the American Football League, began play in 1960, its owners wanted to set it apart from the established NFL. The AFL used several features intended to make its games feel different, and one of them was the two-point conversion, borrowed from college football. For ten seasons, an AFL coach who scored a late touchdown while trailing could choose between a kick and a play. It gave the AFL a reputation for lively, high-scoring finishes, which fit the way the league positioned itself against the older league.
When the two leagues merged, the combined league had to pick one set of rules for every game, and the two-point try did not make the cut. The NFL had never used it, and it was not carried over after the 1969 season, the AFL's last. For more than two decades after that, the NFL's extra point was a one-point kick and nothing else.
Why the NFL waited
The league did not adopt the idea in 1970, and it did not adopt it in the years that followed. We do not have a single authoritative account of every argument made behind closed doors, but the following objections are the ones commonly raised against the idea in football debates, and they give a sense of the thinking.
- Tradition. The NFL positioned itself as the senior league, with a rule book that changed carefully. Adopting an idea from the college game, or from a rival league it had absorbed, was not an obvious step.
- A reliable kicker. Kicking improved so much that the extra point was close to automatic. Some owners and coaches saw the one-point kick as a stable and predictable part of the game, and they were wary of introducing a play that could swing a late lead.
- Overtime. The NFL added a sudden-death overtime period for regular-season games in the 1970s, which gave the league a way to settle ties that the college game of 1958 lacked. The original argument about ties was weaker in the pro game.
- Caution about gimmicks. A rule that rewarded a team for risk looked, to some observers, like an invitation to gamble instead of building a margin of points, and some executives distrusted it for that reason.
Supporters had equally strong arguments. They pointed to the two-point conversion's use in college, where it had produced memorable finishes, and to its short run in the AFL. They argued that it added strategy to a part of the game that had become routine, and that it gave trailing teams one more option late in the game. Over the years the proposal was raised and rejected, and the league continued to hold its position.
The 1994 vote
The NFL's owners approved the two-point conversion for the 1994 season, in the same era that brought free agency and the salary cap, a change that reshaped how rosters are built. Rule changes in the league go through the competition committee and then to a vote of the owners, a process we describe in our article on how NFL rules change. By 1994, supporters could point to decades of experience in college football and a ten-season run in the AFL showing that the play worked in practice.
The NFL version differs from the college original in one detail: the ball is placed at the 2-yard line, one yard closer than in college. The difference changes the decision. A shorter distance makes the try easier, so a coach at the 2-yard line faces a somewhat different gamble than a college coach at the 3.
From the first season, the NFL's two-point try changed how coaches thought about late-game scoring, and the play appeared in some of the most memorable finishes of the era. Coaches began carrying charts that told them when to kick and when to go, a topic we cover in our guide to two-point conversion decisions.
How the rule has changed since
The basic rule has stayed the same, but the NFL has adjusted the surrounding details over the years.
The extra point moved back
In 2015 the NFL moved the line of scrimmage for the one-point kick back to the 15-yard line, which made the kick roughly a 33-yard attempt. At the same time, it left the two-point try at the 2-yard line. The effect was to narrow the gap between the two options. The kick was no longer close to automatic, and the two-point try became comparatively more attractive. The reasoning was to make the play after a touchdown less of a formality.
The defense can score
The same 2015 package of changes allowed the defense to score two points if it gains possession on the try and returns it the length of the field to the other end zone. Before that change, the play simply ended when the defense took the ball. The adjustment gave defenders something to play for on the try and added a real risk to a failed attempt. The details differ by level, so check the rulebook for yours.
Overtime and other levels
College football has its own overtime system, and it connects directly to the two-point rule. In college overtime, the format requires teams to go for two points starting in a later overtime period, which was designed to bring games to a conclusion more quickly. That is a separate rule from the original two-point try, but it shows how the concept spread. Our overtime rules article covers the college procedure. High school associations have their own overtime procedures, and they vary by state.
What changed on the field
It would be easy to exaggerate the impact of the two-point rule, and we will not give numbers, because they would depend on the era and the source. We can describe the qualitative changes.
- A new decision for every touchdown. Before 1994, the NFL coach had nothing to decide after a touchdown. After it, he had a choice, and a wrong choice could be questioned afterward.
- Chart culture. Coaches began using reference cards that suggest when to attempt a two-point try based on score, time and circumstances. The cards are not rules, but they influence what happens. Some coaches follow them closely; others use them as a starting point.
- Late-game math. A trailing team that scores late has to count the possible outcomes. A 14-point deficit and a seven-point deficit are not just scoreboard figures; they imply different conversion plans. We work through one example below.
- Specialized plays. Teams prepare a short list of short-yardage plays that suit the 2-yard line and practice them. A play that works in the open field may not work in a space of two yards.
A hypothetical example
Imagine a team that trails by 14 points and scores a touchdown. It now trails by eight. If it kicks the extra point, it trails by seven, and a touchdown and another extra point would only tie the game. If it goes for two and succeeds, it trails by six, and a single touchdown with a kicked point would win the game, depending on the order of events. If the try fails, it still trails by eight and needs a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie.
The point of this scenario is not to say which choice is correct. It is to show that the two-point option creates branches in the game that a one-point-only world does not have. A coach has to picture the rest of the game and decide which branch he wants. That is the real legacy of the rule.
Common misconceptions
"The NFL invented the two-point conversion." It came from college football in 1958 and appeared in the AFL in 1960. The NFL was the last of the three major systems to use it.
"The NFL used it in the early days." It did not. The rule appeared in the NFL in 1994.
"A two-point conversion is a gimmick." It is a rule that creates a real decision. Whether it improves the game is a matter of taste, but it has become part of how teams are coached.
"The 2-yard line is the same everywhere." Different levels place the ball differently. Check the rule book for your league, whether it is NFL, college or your state's high school association.
"Teams should always go for two." That is a claim about strategy, and the answer depends on circumstances, including the strength of the offense, the strength of the defense, the weather and the score. Nothing in the rules says one choice is always better.
How to follow it
When you watch a game, notice what happens after the first touchdown. If the team trails by a small margin late in the game, you can often guess whether the coach will go for two by thinking through the scenarios above. You can see how each team's offense is performing on the team pages and compare results on the scores page. If you play recreationally, the Play section covers how local leagues handle conversions, since flag and youth leagues often use their own rules; start at the play pages.
The short version
- The two-point conversion began in college football in 1958 and was used by the AFL starting in 1960.
- The merged league did not carry it over in 1970, and the NFL did not adopt it until the 1994 season.
- In the NFL the try is from the 2-yard line; college and standard high school rules use the 3-yard line.
- In 2015 the NFL moved the one-point kick back to the 15-yard line and let the defense score on a returned turnover.
- The rule created a new sideline decision, and many coaches use charts to guide it.
- Rules for tries differ by level and by year, so confirm the current rule with the governing body for your league.