NFL pass interference explained: DPI, OPI, spot fouls and what is legal

Defensive and offensive pass interference are the fouls when a player more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage significantly hinders an eligible opponent’s chance to catch a forward pass. Both sides have equal right to the ball’s path once it is in the air — but the windows when each foul can be called, and the yardage that follows, are not the same.

This guide follows the 2026 Official Playing Rules (Rule 8, Section 5). Examples are hypothetical and assume no other foul changes the result.

What counts as pass interference

Pass interference requires three things together:

• A forward pass thrown from behind the line of scrimmage (legal or illegal; it does not have to cross the line).
• An act more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage.
• Contact or a restriction that significantly hinders an eligible player’s opportunity to catch the ball.

Acts inside that one-yard zone beyond the line are not pass interference. They can still be offensive or defensive holding.

While the ball is in the air, eligible offensive and defensive receivers have the same right to the path of the ball and face the same restrictions.

DPI vs OPI: when the clock starts

When each pass-interference foul can be called

Foul	Window
Defensive pass interference (DPI)	From the moment the ball is thrown until it is touched.
Offensive pass interference (OPI)	From the snap until the ball is touched — including illegal blocks downfield before the pass is thrown.

That timing difference is why a receiver who shoves a corner before the quarterback releases the ball can draw OPI, while the same shove by a defender only becomes DPI once the pass is away.

Prohibited acts while the ball is in the air

Acts that are pass interference include, but are not limited to:

• Contact by a player who is not playing the ball that restricts the opponent’s chance to catch it.
• Playing through the back of an opponent to get to the ball.
• Grabbing an arm so the opponent cannot catch.
• Extending an arm across the opponent’s body and restricting the catch, whether or not the player is playing the ball.
• Cutting off the path with contact without playing the ball.
• Hooking an opponent so his body turns before the ball arrives.
• Initiating contact by shoving or pushing off to create separation.

What is usually legal

Officials are told these acts are generally permissible:

• Incidental contact when both players are competing for the ball — or neither is looking for it. If there is any question whether contact is incidental, the ruling is no interference.
• Inadvertent foot tangling when both (or neither) are playing the ball.
• Contact that would normally be interference, but the pass is clearly uncatchable by the players involved (with limited exceptions for certain offensive downfield blocks).
• A hand laid on an opponent that does not restrict him while trying to play the ball.
• Contact by a player who has already gained position and is trying to catch the ball.

Extra OPI: blocking before the throw

Offensive pass interference also covers blocking more than one yard beyond the line clearly before a pass is thrown, and blocking a defender more than one yard beyond the line while the pass is in the air if that block is in the vicinity of the intended receiver. (Ineligible-receiver exceptions in the rules still apply.)

That is the classic “pick” or early downfield shove that never needed the ball to be in the air to be a foul.

How DPI and OPI are enforced

Pass interference enforcement (2026 rules)

Foul	Result
DPI	Automatic first down at the spot of the foul. If the foul is also a personal foul, that yardage can be added. If the spot is in the end zone and the previous spot was on or outside the defense’s two-yard line, the ball is placed at the one-yard line (inbounds spot matching the foul). If the previous spot was already inside the two, the ball is placed halfway between the previous spot and the goal line — still first down.
OPI	Loss of 10 yards from the previous spot (no automatic first down for the defense beyond the yardage; down and distance follow normal enforcement).

DPI is the expensive spot foul that can move the sticks deep into the red zone or set up first-and-goal. OPI is a 10-yard walk-off from where the play started — often turning a manageable third down into a longer one, or wiping out a big catch.

What to watch for on the next play

• Face the ball. A defender who never turns to the throw and wraps the receiver is the classic DPI profile; a receiver who initiates the shove to create space is the classic OPI profile.
• One yard past the line. Contact in the line-of-scrimmage scrum is usually holding or nothing — not pass interference.
• Timing. Ask whether the ball has left the quarterback’s hand yet. Before the throw, only the offense risks OPI for downfield restriction; after the throw, both sides can foul.
• Uncatchable. A ball thrown into the third row or well behind both players often erases what would otherwise look like a flag.
• End-zone DPI. Spot fouls in the end zone become first-and-goal situations under the one-yard / half-the-distance rules above — not an automatic touchdown.

On contested deep balls and red-zone fades, the same shoulder bump can be incidental contest, DPI, or OPI depending on who initiated it, whether they were playing the ball, and when the pass left the hand.