The Flag Report: Winners, Losers, and the Discipline Gap of the 2025 NFL Season

 by Nick Webster

Football is a team game and coaches are always preaching discipline, but individual discipline can be the difference between a touchdown drive and a punt. Using the final 2025 data, we’ve identified the "Flag Kings" of the season—the players whose names were called most often by the referee's microphone.

1. The Volume Leaders: The 14-Flag Club

Two offensive linemen shared the dubious honor of leading the league in total penalties committed: J.C. Latham (Tennessee) and Jermaine Eluemunor (NY Giants), both finishing with 14 flags.

• J.C. Latham (TEN): Not only did he lead in volume, but his penalties were objectively the most damaging. He tied for the NFL lead (Along with Darnell Wright) in Stalled Drives (drives which, after the penalty - didn't result in a First Down or TD), with 8 of his infractions directly killing his team's momentum.

• Jermaine Eluemunor (NYG): A "False Start" specialist, Eluemunor struggled with snap counts all year, accounting for 9 False Starts, a massive chunk of the Giants' league-leading penalty count.

2. The Yardage King: Riley Moss’s Vertical Problem

If J.C. Latham was the king of volume, Riley Moss (Denver) was the king of field position . . . and why do all the white CB's come from Iowa? Moss surrendered a staggering 203 penalized yards.  Since 1999, this is the second-largest total ever, falling behind only Brandon Browner's disastrous 2015, where he had 21 penalties accepted for 207 yards, which drove him out of the league the following season.  The fact that Moss "achieved" this on just 10 accepted penalties tells you that he was flagged for DPI on some very long plays. 

Moss became a frequent target for "underthrown" deep balls, leading to 10 Defensive Pass Interferences, including plays of 47, 40, 38, 25 and 22-yards, to name a few. While Denver’s defense was elite, Moss’s tendency to get grabby allowed opponents to gain 20+ yards at a time without completing a pass. He and Keisean Nixon (Green Bay) also shared the league lead for most First Downs gifted to the opponent, with 10 each.

3. The "Drive Killers": Wright and Latham

A penalty is annoying, but a penalty that ends a drive is fatal.

• Darnell Wright (Chicago): Tied with Latham for 8 stalled drives. Wright’s holding calls frequently turned 2nd-and-Short situations into 2nd-and-Long, a hole the Bears' offense often couldn't climb out of.  Wright was a breakout player for the Bears, particularly his mauling style in the run game - but the penalties must come down.

• Jawaan Taylor (KC): Despite being on a championship contender KC, Taylor remained a flag magnet, as he's been for many years, committing 13 penalties (ranking 3rd overall).  It seems the Chiefs can't live without a Penalty-machine at tackle they needed Taylor there after Donovan Smith retired.

4. The Hidden Cost: Nullified Yards

The most frustrating stat for a wide receiver is seeing a highlight-reel play erased by a mistake.

• Darius Slayton (NYG): Slayton led the league in Nullified Yards, with 158 yards of offense wiped off the board due to penalties.  Darius Slayton negated 2-TDs of his own, a 72-yarder and a 68-yarder, respectively, by committing OPI in order to make the reception.  The 140-yards negated on just those two plays got him most of the way to his seasons' total and the highest figure since 1999 - second place being Keyshawn Martin in 2015 with a mere 137 yards negated.

• Stefon Diggs (NE): Following closely behind, Diggs saw 112 yards of his production disappear because of yellow flags due to OPI's of 51 and 61 yards, respectively.  Adding insult to injury, one of Diggs' OPI's was on a play where he wasn't even targeted, negating a 61-yard TD from Drake Maye to Dermario Douglass.