It doesn’t matter if it’s the first game of the season or the crowning glory that is the Super Bowl, even the casual NFL fan knows that yellow penalty flags will find their way from officials’ pockets and onto the turf — some games much more frequently than others, depending on the teams involved.
Penalty volume is a function of a lot of factors, of course: playing style (up-tempo or deliberate), play-calling, roster construction, coaching, individual matchups, strength of schedule, to name a few.
While penalty rates in a single season tell one story, how about if we zoom out and look at the number of penalties called against each team over the last 10 years? Just who is the most-flagged NFL team of the decade?
To find out, we collected data on the number of accepted penalties for each team between the 2014 and 2024 NFL seasons (regular season only), as well as how many yards were lost as a result of these errors, and tallied them all up to rank the top NFL teams based on how often their plays resulted in unintentional (or intentional) infractions.
Take a look below to see where your favorite team landed!
Which NFL team has drawn the most penalty flags?
Here are the top 5 NFL teams that have committed the most penalties since 2014:
1. Las Vegas Raiders (1,259 flags)
Coming in at number one for the highest number of accepted penalties for any team in the last 10 years, we have the Las Vegas Raiders, who have the honor of taking our top spot thanks to a total accepted flag count of 1,259.
Given the organizational dysfunction that has defined the Raiders for the past decade, along with a lot of losing — two winning seasons against eight in this frame — this result is not surprising.
Incidentally, the 2024 Raiders ranked 26th in penalties against with only 96 going against them; the Rams accumulated the fewest that season with 91. And the year before that, the Raiders actually had the fewest in the league! But some truly ugly seasons, including 2016 when they led the league with 147 — nearly 20 more than second place — was too much to overcome.
2. Seattle Seahawks (1,249 flags)
Following closely behind the Raiders, we next have the Seattle Seahawks. Known in the past for their defensive prowess under the Legion of Boom, longtime head coach Pete Carroll (who has since moved to Las Vegas’ top job) presided over a whole lot of yellow laundry.
With a total of 1,249 penalties over the decade, the Seahawks only lag behind the Raiders, with an apparent lack of team discipline and perhaps an overmatched offensive line the main culprit, as Seattle has frequently ranked near the top for both false starts and offensive holding penalties.
3. Buffalo Bills (1,235 flags)
Wrapping up our top three, we next have the Buffalo Bills, who were responsible for a whopping 1,235 penalties over the last decade. This period includes the entire Josh Allen and head coach Sean McDermott eras which, while defined by a whole lot of wins, include a load of penalties as well.
In particular, the Bills have found themselves near the top of the leaderboard for false starts, offensive holding, defensive offside calls, as well as roughing calls during the sample decade. The rates have fluctuated a bit year over year, but in total, that’s the story.
4. Cleveland Browns (1,224 flags)
Moving on to fourth place, we have the perpetually quarterback-challenged Cleveland Browns, with a penalty total of 1,224. With head coach Kevin Stefanski at the helm since 2020, the Browns have managed a pair of 11-win seasons despite the quarterback struggles, thanks in large part to an above-average defense led by perennial Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett.
Garrett, of course, was involved in one of the more infamous penalties in NFL history. In 2019, an ugly scene involving Garrett, Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph, and a helmet swung by Garrett at Rudolph’s head after things had gotten out of hand.
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1,206 flags)
Lastly, in fifth, we have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While the last decade does include the Super Bowl win in 2021 in the twilight of Tom Brady’s career, the swashbuckling Buccaneers could afford to tighten things up like the other leading teams here.
Notable well-above-league-average penalty marks by the Bucs include 15 neutral zone infractions in 2019, another 14 in 2020, 15 defensive pass interference calls in 2021, plus too much offensive holding in 2018 with 28 calls going against them.
Which NFL teams have lost the most ground due to penalties?
Not all penalties are created equal, of course. Timing and down-and-distance render some calls much more meaningful than others. Having said that, let’s take a look at the top 5 NFL teams that have surrendered the most yards since 2014:
1. Las Vegas Raiders (10,730 yards)
Shocking no one given their top ranking for flags in general, the Las Vegas Raiders wound up placing first for total yards lost as well, giving up 10,730 to other teams.
Naturally, this yard-loss rate suggests that the Raiders may have had more serious penalties imposed on them than other teams in the league, and given the number of flags being called per game, it’s not hard to see why this might be true.
In fact, as it turns out, the Raiders wound up with the highest rate of net yard loss in a single game for the 2024 season, trading out 79 yards against the Denver Broncos in their week 5 matchup and ultimately losing to the Broncos 34-18 – proving just how important maintaining control really is.
2. Seattle Seahawks (10,427 yards)
Much like the Raiders in our penalty ranking, the Seahawks wound up being the second-highest team for yards lost in the last decade, culminating in a total distance surrendered of 10,427 yards in 191 games.
Similar to the Raiders and other highly penalized teams, their style of play might have a hand in this turf-trading. However, with a reasonable 2024 season, including only one lost away game, it could be that the Seahawks are intent on turning this record around in the coming seasons.
3. New York Jets (10,400 yards)
Despite not making an appearance in our top five teams for the number of penalties this decade – though they still placed 7th with a total flag count of 1,201 – the Jets nevertheless wound up being the team that surrendered the third most penalties in our chosen ten-year period.
Giving up a grand total of 10,400 yards to penalties, the Jets’ defensive playstyle clearly isn’t stopping their rivals from taking turf from them, and the team will need to avoid additional penalties moving forward if they hope to stop this downward trend in the future.
4. Buffalo Bills (10,369 yards)
Next up, and perhaps unsurprisingly, as they were also among our top 5 most flagged teams, we have the Buffalo Bills at 10,369 yards lost – a stat that fans will no doubt be disappointed to hear.
In hindsight, however, and given their excessive number of infractions, it stands to reason that the Bills would be forced to give ground.
5. Cleveland Browns (10,257 yards)
Finally, to wrap up our yard loss ranking, we again see the Cleveland Browns making an appearance, finding themselves in a similar boat to the Bills and giving up a grand total of 10,257 yards in the last decade of games.
Again, with a past history of aggressive plays to go alongside their substantial number of penalties, it isn’t a surprise that the Browns have had to give up so much ground, and it’s no doubt a factor that contributed to the generally poor 2024 season that we mentioned earlier.
Does aggressive play help performance?
While potentially a benefit to a team’s performance, at the end of the day, whether or not a team wins its next game comes down to far more than aggressive play and a willingness to tow the penalty line.
The NFL is a team sport – one that needs solid cohesion and strategy to consistently win – and any player not pulling their weight or stepping out of sync is only going to hold their franchise back.
Yes, aggression can certainly help, and teams such as the Kansas Chiefs have shown that aggressive play and flags don’t always have to get in the way of winning. However, the Chiefs can also put their money where their mouth is – they are the exception to the rule.
Case in point, other aggressive teams, such as the Browns and Seahawks, have either failed to muster a Super Bowl win or haven’t won since the mid-2010s, and they’d do well to learn from the growth of other teams if they hope to have any chance of changing this.
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Methodology
We collected data on the number of accepted flags each NFL team received between the 2014 and 2024 seasons, and how many yards they had lost as a result of these penalties. Only accepted penalties were counted, as declined or offsetting flags are not included in the totals.
All data reflects regular-season games only and was sourced from NFLPenalties.com.
