1994 NFL season

Player movement

Transactions

• July 21: San Francisco signed quarterback Bill Musgrave
• July 21: Indianapolis signed quarterback Don Majkowski
• July 22: Washington signed safety Martin Bayless
• July 22: The New York Giants re-signed sign punter Mike Horan
• July 22: The Los Angeles Rams signed running back Johnny Bailey
• July 23: Philadelphia signed Defensive End Greg Townsend
• July 23 The Los Angeles Raiders signed Tackle Robert Jenkins
• July 25: Indianapolis signed linebacker Scott Radecic
• July 25: Miami signed guard Houston Hoover.
• July 25: Green Bay signed guard Guy McIntyre.
• July 25: Kansas City signed wide receiver Sanjay Beach.
• July 25: Buffalo signed free safety Mike Dumas
• July 25: San Francisco signed Wide Receiver Ed McCaffrey
• July 26: Detroit signed Tight End Rodney Holman
• July 27 Green Bay signed safety Mike Prior
• July 30: Arizona signed safety Andre Waters
• July 30: San Francisco signed running back Marc Logan
• August 31: Minnesota signed punter Mike Saxon.

Trades

• April 14, 1994: Houston traded quarterback Warren Moon to Minnesota.
• April 24, 1994: Minnesota traded defensive end Chris Doleman as a part of a package involving draft picks to Atlanta.
• July 12, 1994: Detroit traded safety William White to Kansas City.

Retirements

• January 15: Linebacker Lawrence Taylor announced his retirement immediately following the [1993 1994 New York Giants season|New York Giants season|New York Giants] 44-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in an NFC divisional playoff. Taylor was a 10-time Pro-Bowler, 10-time All-Pro, two time Super Bowl champion, 1981 Defensive Rookie of the Year, three time Defensive Player of the Year, and 1986 NFL MVP. Taylor played for the New York Giants his entire 13-year career.

Draft

Major rule changes

• The two-point conversion after touchdowns is adopted. However, the defensive two-point conversion would not be adopted until the season; instead a two-point conversion or extra point automatically was blown dead and ruled as "no good" as soon as the defense gained possession of the ball.
• The spot of the kickoff is moved from the 35-yard line to the 30-yard line; this rule change was reverted prior to the season.
• The "neutral zone infraction" foul is adopted. A play is automatically dead before the snap when a defensive player enters the neutral zone and causes an offensive player to react.
• After a field goal is missed, the defensive team takes possession of the ball at the spot of the kick or the 20-yard line, whichever is farther from the goal line.
• During field goal attempts and extra point tries, players on the receiving team cannot block below the waist.
• The referee shall announce the end of each quarter on his microphone. Prior to 1994, an official fired a starter's pistol to signal the end of a period.

Preseason

American Bowl

Hall of Fame Game

Regular season

Scheduling formula

• Shula Bowl: On October 2, Don Shula's Miami Dolphins defeated his son David Shula's Cincinnati Bengals. This marked the first time in NFL history that a head coaching matchup featured father against son.
• [NFL on NFL on Thanksgiving Day|Thanksgiving Day|Thanksgiving]: Two games were played on Thursday, November 24, featuring Buffalo at Detroit and Green Bay at [1994 1994 Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas], with Detroit and Dallas winning.

Tiebreakers

• Miami finished ahead of New England in the AFC East based on head-to-head sweep.
• Kansas City finished ahead of L.A. Raiders in the AFC West based on head-to-head sweep.
• Green Bay was the first NFC Wild Card based on best head-to-head record vs. Detroit and Chicago and better conference record than the New York Giants.
• Detroit was the second NFC Wild Card based on better division record than Chicago and head-to-head victory over N.Y. Giants.
• Chicago was the third NFC Wild Card based on better record against common opponents than N.Y. Giants.
• New Orleans finished ahead of Atlanta in the NFC West based on head-to-head sweep.

Coaching changes

Offseason

• Arizona Cardinals: Buddy Ryan replaced the fired Joe Bugel.
• Atlanta Falcons: June Jones replaced the fired Jerry Glanville who became a color commentator for the NFL on Fox prior to the 1994 season.
• Dallas Cowboys: Barry Switzer replaced Jimmy Johnson, who resigned in March 1994.
• New York Jets: Pete Carroll replaced the fired Bruce Coslet.
• Washington Redskins: Norv Turner replaced the fired Richie Petitbon.

In-season

• Houston Oilers: Jack Pardee was fired after 10 games and was replaced by Jeff Fisher.

Stadium changes

Uniforms

Throwback uniforms and games

• Although no attempt was made to simulate obsolete leather helmets, teams simulating uniforms from the era of leather headgear simply removed all decals and striping from their regular hard-shell helmets.
• All jerseys displayed the players' last names on the back, though this practice did not become standard until 1970.
• The Buffalo Bills and New York Jets' otherwise accurate throwbacks used different colored helmets than their historic uniforms used, being red and green, respectively, instead of white. The Dallas Cowboys wore their then-current helmets with their throwbacks. The Cowboys and the Bills would later adopt a more accurate representation of their 1960s throwbacks as their alternative uniform, while the Jets would move to a style similar to their throwbacks but with a darker shade of green and green facemasks full-time in 1998.
• The San Francisco 49ers also used their modern gold helmets with their 1955-inspired throwbacks, as the originals had red helmets. The white uniforms also had all red stripes on the sleeves, instead of the black-red-black pattern of the original. The white throwbacks would return to replace their black Color Rush uniforms in 2019, and the red throwback would also be added into their rotation in 2021.
• In some instances the fonts and typestyles used were only approximate matches at best. The San Diego Chargers and Houston Oilers' throwbacks averted this, being completely accurate replications, including typefaces, of their first uniforms in 1960. The Chargers and the Oilers' successors, the Tennessee Titans, wore these throwbacks again for the American Football League's 50th anniversary celebration during the 2009 season.
• The Cleveland Browns were the only team to not acquire throwbacks or alter any part of the uniform they had. They passed off their all white uniforms as "1964 throwbacks" to honor the Browns 1964 NFL Championship since with the exception of white facemasks, the 1994 all white uniform were similar in design to the 1964 uniform. Many believe Art Modell did this because of the four NFL Championships the 1964 team was the only one that Paul Brown was not the Head Coach of and having throwbacks honoring any of the other Browns Championship Teams would be acknowledging Brown, something Modell would not do because of their antagonistic relationship dating back to when Modell purchased the team.
• The Indianapolis Colts also made no changes to their jerseys, helmets, or pants, only wearing striped socks instead of solid blue-topped socks for their throwback games.
• On-field officials working these throwback games wore flat caps similar to the ones that NFL officials wore back in the 1920s, but still had on their regular striped shirts instead of the white dress shirts worn during that era.

Wholesale team changes

• The Denver Broncos added trim to the nameplates to match the numbers on both regular jerseys: blue trim on the orange jerseys and orange trim on the white jerseys.
• The Miami Dolphins adopted a new style of numbers on their jerseys: white numbers with orange trim on their aqua jerseys and aqua numbers with orange trim on their white jerseys.
• The New England Patriots switched from red to white numbers on their blue jerseys; gray to red facemasks; and a different red-blue design on the pants stripping.
• The Seattle Seahawks adopted a thinner font for their jersey numbers.

Television