Inside the NFL’s most- and least-penalized teams since 2021

Bengals and Rams are among the best at not being flagged: Cincinnati and Los Angeles are the only two teams to sit in the top five for the lowest offensive and defensive penalty rates.

• The Seahawks thrive at forcing opponent mistakes: Seattle finished as one of the teams drawing the highest clip of defensive fouls, including during the 2025 season.

• Efficient offenses tend to avoid penalties: Each of the six lowest-penalized offenses in the sample all finished in the top half of EPA per play.

When explaining and understanding why NFL teams or good or bad, the most common reasons involve ideas that are concrete. From a bad quarterback to an inability to run-block to a secondary that gets exposed, most overall team success can be traced to how well a team did or didn’t perform by its own accord.

However, what can often go overlooked, and is embedded in that, is the concept of penalties. Although NFL officiating has been widely scrutinized in recent seasons — and can vary in consistency — referees’ calls make tangible impacts on games, even if they almost never single-handedly decide an outcome.

While teams aren’t the entities actually making the flag decisions themselves (barring a coach’s challenge), they do hold real power in their ability to avoid and/or generate flags. The sport’s savviest leaders enforce clean technique to avoid penalties, not to mention take advantage of opponent tendencies in getting whistled.

Penalty patterns can change every season, or even weekly, but a broad stroke is useful in understanding which franchises have been the best and worst at avoiding yellow markers. Over the last five years, PFF charting offers a thoroughly insightful look into the most- and least-penalized teams in the NFL, including on what side of the ball and for what call.

At the most basic level is every team’s binary, total penalty count over the last five seasons, which doesn’t remove declined or offsetting fouls from the equation. Let’s start with the teams that have committed the most since 2021.

Most penalties among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team Penalties Cowboys 756 Titans 677 Texans 676 Bills 674 Chiefs 667

Seeing the Bills and Chiefs — two of the more successful and winning teams over the past half-decade — on this list certainly throws cold water on the fact that good squads need to avoid penalties. Meanwhile, the Titans (163) and Cowboys (158) were also first and second during the 2025 season, which shouldn’t come as a huge surprise given their larger tendencies.

As for the other end of the spectrum, the result is also a mixed bag in terms of team results.

Fewest penalties among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team Penalties Bengals 516 Falcons 520 Colts 533 Rams 535 Patriots 569

The Falcons and Colts rank 20th or worse in winning percentage over the last five seasons, failing to make the playoffs at all in that span. However, the Rams and Bengals have been far more fruitful overall, and each also ranked in the top three for fewest penalties last season.

Pure penalty tallies suggest a murky relationship between team outcome and foul quantity. Teams that are innately very talented can seemingly mitigate more fouls with their ability to generate explosive plays and make stops. On the other hand, a skilled squad will always benefit from fewer mistakes, but not being flagged only goes so far in actually winning.

Pivoting to specific sides of the ball, offensive penalties are the most frequent (and perhaps frustrating) to watch. From pre-snap errors like false starts and illegal formation setups to holds that nullify an explosive gain, such procedural mistakes can drive coaches and fans crazy alike. Conversely, offenses that avoid such miscues put themselves in a better situation to simply execute.

Lowest offensive penalty rates among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team Offensive Penalty Rate Rams 4.0% Bengals 4.3% Buccaneers 4.5% Lions 4.6% Chargers 4.6% Commanders 4.6%

Over the last five years, each of these six teams ranked no worse than 14th in offensive EPA per play, including the Lions, Buccaneers and Rams sitting inside the top 10. While the teams placing highly benefited from elite skill-position talent and strong schematics, they also simply didn’t get in their own way.

Highest offensive penalty rates among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team Offensive Penalty Rate Dolphins 5.9% Cardinals 5.9% Browns 5.7% Giants 5.6% Seahawks 5.6% Texans 5.6%

Although the Seahawks, Cardinals and Dolphins all performed close to average in terms of EPA per play, the Browns, Giants and Texans all finished in the bottom six for the statistic. To reiterate, those units all suffered from a fundamental lack of dynamic players and/or poor position groups, but they also definitively inhibited their outcomes because of penalties.

PFF penalty data underscores that offenses committing penalties at lower rates do, holistically, perform better than the units that are flagged more. Although a potent offense can always offset a loss of yards with a chunk play, such penalties interfere with staying on schedule and eliminate big gains because of technical mistakes. At a core level, offenses give themselves a higher ceiling by not being penalized.

Turning to the defensive side of the ball, penalties would figure to loom just as — if not even more — large. One defensive pass interference call can change the outlook of an entire possession, while something as trivial as an offside can extend a possession on fourth down. However, PFF data suggests a less clear existence between defensive flags and overarching success.

Lowest defensive penalty rates among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team Defensive Penalty Rate Falcons 3.0% Bengals 3.1% Patriots 3.2% Vikings 3.2% Rams 3.3%

While the Falcons and Bengals were best at not being whistled, their defenses didn’t respond accordingly by placing 26th and 23rd in EPA per play, respectively. By comparison, the Patriots and Vikings certainly benefitted from fewer flags in order to place first and eighth in the metric.

Highest defensive penalty rates among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team Defensive Penalty Rate Cowboys 4.5% Jets 4.5% Lions 4.5% Bills 4.4% 49ers 4.4% Titans 4.4% Browns 4.4%

Teams like the Lions, Titans and Jets weren’t helped by giving up extra yardage or plays, finishing below-average in EPA per play. But in the same penalty frequency are the Browns and Bills, who sat second and sixth, respectively, in the predictive statistic.

While better offenses tend to be responsible for fewer penalties, stronger defenses aren’t necessarily more likely to receive fewer foul calls. A stingy defense can offset a foul by yielding few yards and/or generating negative plays. Likewise, avoiding a flag only helps so much if a defense’s underlying talent is still vulnerable. For example, a defense that isn’t penalized much but can’t rush the passer or tackle is probably not going to fare well despite a clean sheet.

In addition to examining macro penalty categories, PFF data also allows for a more in-depth review of particular flag data. One that’s specifically interesting is the percent of defensive holding or defensive pass interference calls drawn by offenses. These fouls are not only among the longest in terms of penalty yards, but also feel the most demoralizing for a defense.

Highest defensive holding/DPI penalty rates drawn among NFL offenses, 2021-25

Team Holding/DPI Rate Drawn Cowboys 3.3% Commanders 3.0% Seahawks 2.8% Vikings 2.7% Bengals 2.7% Packers 2.7%

One underlying commonality in several of the top teams here is tremendous receiver talent. Boasting George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys drew 36 such penalties in 2025, the most by six. Meanwhile, other franchises feature or have fielded Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and D.K. Metcalf, all of whom are generally difficult to guard one-on-one without committing a foul.

Another facet of a savvy offense is one that can catch a defense off guard. Drawing defensive offsides and/or neutral zone reactions — primarily via the hard count — is a solid reflection of that.

Highest defensive offside/NZI penalty rates drawn among NFL offenses, 2021-25

Team Offside/NZI Rate Drawn Titans 1.3% Bengals 1.1% Seahawks 1.1% Chiefs 1.0% Giants 1.0% Broncos 1.0%

Across the last two tables, it’s clear that the Bengals and Seahawks are a cut above at forcing their defensive opponents into mistakes. In fact, Seattle forced a league-high 21 defensive offsides or neutral zone infractions during its Super Bowl run last year.

From a defensive vantage point, pass interference lingers as a polarizing yet important call. Although committing such a foul can afford an offense the equivalent of an explosive play, does a defense actually perform better if it’s assessed for PI less often?

Fewest defensive pass interference penalties among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team DPI Penalties Packers 37 Steelers 37 Falcons 38 Bears 38 Cardinals 39 Buccaneers 39

While tallying fewer pass interference calls assisted the Steelers and Buccaneers — who ranked 10th and 11th in EPA per play since 2021 — the same couldn’t be said of the Falcons, Bears and Cardinals.

Most defensive pass interference penalties among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team DPI Penalties Lions 74 Chiefs 70 Ravens 68 49ers 67 Commanders 61

The other end of the spectrum is analogously uncertain. Detroit and Washington were the two worst teams by EPA per play in the sample, assuredly in part because of their high pass interference totals. But the Ravens, 49ers and Chiefs all sat above average in EPA per play since 2021 regardless of a lot of flags.

Like the overall relationship between highly penalized defenses and their efficacies, the existence between pass interference rates and defensive prowess is not fully transparent. Not affording the opposing offense free yards (and an extra set of downs) via flags is always a plus, but there are clearly other crucial aspects of defensive performance that matter even more.

Similarly, though defensive pass interference was the most-called defensive penalty of the last five years, it’s still a fraction of the rate at which false starts and offensive holds are enforced. The fact that the latter two are more common on a per-snap basis makes them more important for understanding offensive performance compared to PI for defense.

The possibilities for penalty parameters are nearly endless with PFF data, but one more layer to consider is which teams commit the most fouls on key downs. Consider these organizations to be the least culpable when the play matters most.

Fewest penalties on 3rd/4th down among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team 3rd/4th-Down Penalties Falcons 178 Colts 195 Jaguars 196 Cardinals 197 Rams 200

The Falcons, Colts and Rams have extended their penalty-free play to the most key parts of a drive. All three also sit in the top three of accepted penalties in that situation.

Most penalties on 3rd/4th down among NFL teams, 2021-25

Team 3rd/4th-Down Penalties Cowboys 272 Eagles 260 Chiefs 257 Bills 255 Giants 253

On the other hand, three of four NFC East teams are among the most likely to be flagged on third or fourth down, with the Eagles’ 225 accepted calls the most by a fair number. The fact that four of the seven winningest squads since 2021 are all featured here suggests that late-down penalty rates may not carry as much significance as what might be perceived.