At the annual NFL meetings that are being held in Palm Beach, Fla. this week, the NFL competition committee will propose a series of playing rule changes for the 2012 season to the NFL’s ownership group.
After the conclusion of the 2011 season, the competition committee, which is chaired by Atlanta Falcons President and CEO Rich McKay, took feedback from fans, all 32 NFL clubs, officials, media, medical consultants and the NFLPA and came up with the following rule proposals, as explained by McKay:
Playing Rule Proposal No. 1 is submitted by Buffalo. It is a change to instant replay in which Buffalo proposes that the replay official in the booth make all decisions in the booth as opposed to the referee. That is the only change in the rule they proposed. That would move the decisions from the referee to upstairs.
Playing Rule Proposal No. 2 is submitted by Pittsburgh. It is a proposal in which they want to modify the horse collar tackle rule. The rule now provides an exception to horse collar tackles to the quarterback inside the pocket. They proposed that the exception be taken out. In other words, if a quarterback inside the pocket is tackled by a horse collar tackle, it would be a 15-yard penalty. It currently is not.
Playing Rule Proposal No. 3 is also submitted by Pittsburgh. It is a proposal in which they ask that the postseason overtime rule be used in the regular season also. It would be a change in what we call the ‘Opportunity to Possess Rule’ that now occurs in our postseason. They would propose that it would also be used in the regular season.
Playing Rule Proposal No. 4 is a cleanup rule about the kicking of the football. If you kick a football and it happens by the offensive team before possession changes, then it is a loss of a scrimmage down. It is really because there are some instances in which the kicking team gains an advantage or isn’t penalized substantially on a muffed kick by kicking the ball. We wanted to marry it up with the college rule and make it also a loss of down – a simple cleanup rule.
Playing Rule Proposal No. 5 is an adoption, if you will or a proposal to adopt the college rule on too many men on the field. It would be a dead-ball foul now as it is in college. If you line up on offense for more than three seconds or if on defense you line up and the snap is imminent, then the official will shut the play down and it will be a dead-ball foul, five yards and you go from there. You would still have the same situation if a player is trying to run off the field or something like that. In that case, it would be a live-ball foul and a five-yard penalty. It deals a little bit with, and is a little bit of a reaction, obviously, to the Super Bowl (XLVI) play.
Playing Rule Proposal No. 6 is an expansion of our defenseless player rules. All we are doing there is we have always given crackback protection to the defensive player from the low block from the person who is lined up outside and blocks inside and goes low. You guys have heard it forever. We have said that if he has crackback protection, the (offensive player) cannot go low. We propose that the protection be expanded to defenseless player protection, which means you cannot go low but you also cannot hit him in the head nor lead with the head against that player. We just think that player is in a very vulnerable position inside, and we are trying to give that defensive player a little more protection.
Playing Rule Proposal No. 7 is our last Playing Rule Proposal. It is an instant replay proposal submitted by the Competition Committee. Last year, we proposed that you would be able to review scoring plays. This year we would expand that and try to propose that you would be able to review scoring plays and additionally review what we will call ‘traditional turnovers.’ When I say review, I mean that a review would be instigated by the replay official upstairs. As you know, last year we changed that. We took scoring plays from the coaches and put it upstairs as an automatic review for him (the replay official) to confirm. If he (the replay official) felt it needed to be reviewed by the referee, then he stopped the game. We would use that same procedure for turnovers – fumbles, interceptions and the like. That would be an expansion of the replay assistant’s capabilities and take it out of the hands of the coaches, without affecting in any way the coach’s ability to still have three challenges if he gets the first two right or two challenges if he doesn’t.
In addition to the seven rule proposals, the competition committee also recommended changes to the league’s bylaws which include adjusting the trade deadline, training camp roster sizes and an injured reserve list exception.
Bylaw Proposal No. 1 is a cleanup rule with respect to the teams that have games on Thanksgiving and Christmas in giving them the ability to use the waiver procedure like other night games.
Bylaw Proposal No. 2, we proposed that the trade deadline be moved from after the sixth week of the regular season to after the eighth week of the regular season. It would be a two-week move in the trade deadline.
Bylaw Proposal No. 3 is we propose a 90-player training camp offseason limit. In that limit, we would also count the unsigned draft picks, which we haven’t in years past; those players have been exempt. It would be an increase from what has traditionally been 80 players, although last year we obviously made the exception given the unique year. We propose 90 this year. In that, we propose two cuts – one cut coming after (preseason) Week 3, you would go from 90 to 80; and then you would go to 53 in the last cut.
Bylaw Proposal No. 4 is a contingent proposal in case we don’t end up with a 90-man roster and we end up with an 80-man roster. It is a way to cut down the roster if that were to happen. Bylaw Proposal No. 4 is a contingency proposal, if you will.
Bylaw Proposal No. 5 is a proposal in which we seek to move the final cut-down date to Friday night as opposed to Saturday where it has been. It is in recognition of the Kickoff Game being on Wednesday night and trying to give those two teams the opportunity to have a practice on Saturday.
Bylaw Proposal No. 6, I’m going to call it an ‘injured reserve exception for major injury to a designated player.’ Traditionally, in our system, injured reserve players have been out for the year. In this case, if that player was on the roster all the way through the first regular-season weekend, then you could put that player on injured reserve, designate that player for return and the player could begin to practice six weeks after he has gone on that list and play in games eight weeks after he has gone on that list. You could put him on later in the season, but you could take the player, for instance, who was hurt in the preseason, carry him through the first week of the regular season, put him on this list and bring him back during the season.
Bylaw Proposal No. 7 is an exception or an addition to the inactive list which would give each team the right by the Friday of each week to designate up to one player who could be on the inactive list, and if they were diagnosed with a concussion, they could go on that inactive list; you could then add another player to your roster, they would stay on that inactive list until they take them off. You must take them off or put them on prior to Friday at 4:00 PM. At no time could you have more than one on that inactive list.
Last year’s major rule change proposed by the committee and ultimately passed by the league was moving kickoffs up by 5 yards to help cut back on injuries. McKay said that concussions on kickoffs were reduced by 40 percent while only affecting the average drive start by roughly 1.5 yards.
-Stuart Zaas
Tags: Owners Meetings, Rule Changes
I think we gave NE three picks in 2yrs. Bill loves his picks and Josh had to make Daddy happy.
Peace BFE
#2 OFFENSE and Jamie Dukes said it best.” It ain’t broken so don’t mess with it, just fix the Defense.
Has anyone seen this about possible interest in Bears’ DT Amobi Okoye?
http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/broncos_interested_in_bears_dt_amobi_okoye/10415329
AB woah wait up…. Cutler Hillis Marshall Royal Scheffler…. teams ended up choosing Mike Wallace Aaron Hernandez, Brandon Graham, Johnny Knox, Anthony Davis and Earl Thomas with picks that once belonged to the Broncos.
Trading up to get Tim Tebow meant the Broncos lost out on the opportunity to draft defensive linemen Terrence Cody and Carlos Dunlap as well as Saints tight end Jimmy Graham and Tampa’s Mike Williams. Former Broncos Tony Sheffler, Brandon Marshall and Montrae Holland—now starting at guard for the Cowboys—were all traded as well.
WOW>>>
Has anyone seen this yet, about our interest in Bears’ DT Amobi Okoye?
http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/broncos_interested_in_bears_dt_amobi_okoye/10415329
Whoops didnt mean to post it twice, computer is being screwy.
Lax I know i was just naming a few. I didnt know the picks though.
Just a FYI watch out on yardbarker.com. Picked up a nasty trojan from the site!
LMSDB
Hey thanks FTR for the Heads Up, I appreciate it!
#25
Hightower LB Alabama
Cox DT Mississippi State
Brockers DT LSU
Barron S Alabama
Martin RB Boise State
#57
McClellin LB Boise State
Winn DE\DT Boise State
Thompson DT Clemson
Jones DE Syracuse
Gray RB Texas A&M
#87
Turbin RB Utah State
Ta’amu DT Washington
Chapman DT Alabama
Kendricks LB California
Johnson DE Virginia
#108
Rainey RB Florida
Wolfe DT Cincinnati
Harris DT Southern California
Massaquoi OLB Troy
Jones WR North Carolina
#120
Lewis LB Oklahoma
Manning LB North Carolina State
Howard DT Florida
Ballard RB Mississippi State
Ganaway RB Baylor
#137
Acho LB Texas
Cole LB North Carolina State
Vernon DE Miami FL
Roy DT Nevada
Crawford DE Penn State
Following are people to add to #137 if we dont keep #160 cause Quinn trade
Foles QB Arizona
Burfict LB (Kills me to add his name lol) Arizona State
Paige-Moss DE North Carolina
Miller OG Colorado
Megget RB Maryland
#188
Brooks CB LSU
Carder LB TCU
Hicks DT Regina
Maze WR Alabama
Trevathan LB Kentucky
I tend to favor LBs LOL.
Okoye and Thomas in FA if we can.
http://www.milehighreport.com/2012/3/27/2900755/looking-ahead-to-the-nfl-draft-part-1-denver-broncos#storyjump
Denver NFL draft Part one. Looking at DTs.
Anybody gonna take on the role of keeping up with a mock draft contest or even a weekly game/score prediction contest?
Where you at Bay,where you at?
This blog sure isn’t the same without you dude,I really miss your opinions and your contributions to this blog,kudos to you,wherever you are!
“We’ve got some holes, in particular at defensive tackle,” Broncos coach John Fox said Tuesday at the AFC coaches breakfast with the media.
Besides looking for defensive tackles, the Broncos figure to open contract extension talks this summer with offensive lineman Ryan Clady, a left tackle who can become a free agent after the 2012 season. The Broncos might also bring back slot receiver and ex-Manning teammate Brandon Stokley, and they’re trying to re-sign defensive end Jason Hunter.
SIGN CLADY TO A BIG FAT CONTRACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shanny:
“People have no idea how much time (Manning) puts in,” Shanahan told The Denver Post on Monday at the NFL Annual Meeting. “You get an opportunity to get a guy like this once in a lifetime. They got it done.”
Means a lot coming from him,imo.
Mornin Everyone……..
Another day……………and another day closer to the season. LOL Jeez, it’s not even April and I’m already can’t wait for Sept to come already.
Was reading the article about the Broncos playing more prime-time games………..great in once sense, but from a selfish prospective, I don’t like it cause I’m on the most easterly time zone where SNF and MNF games don’t even start until like 10-10:30pm. Gonna make for some late nights. lol
I can totally see them making the first game the sunday night game against the Pats………..I think that one has the networks salivating at the ratings potential.
This has probably been discussed but can someone help me better understand our salary cap status. I read an article on DP that showed how the Broncos have spent the $40M in cap space, it broke down the FA contract and cap hit for 2012. The total cap hit for the 9 FA was I think around $39M. So does that mean we only have $1M in cap space, or was the $40M “extra” above the salary cap?
Glad to see the interest in okoye. Hope its true. Wanted him last yr before bears signed for one year. Losing bunk hurt. Hope we have the money for okoye
TRB
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2012/mock-drafts?module=HP11_cp Some people have us moveing up to take Tannenhill, dont think that will happen how bout you guys?
I don’t see it happening miller but you never know right. “Draftologists” are all over the place now having Broncos taking, DT, WR to QB. Everyone’s trying to get their finger on the pulse of what Broncos will do, including myself…lol!
DT is the glaring need as it was last season when quite a few thought Marcell Dareus would be first selection. Could be best player available although I think DT will be addressed with a couple of selections.
Tannehill doesn’t have alot time under his belt at Texas A&M but has the tools and big upside.
Glad to see you’ve got the “copy n paste” down…lol!
Remember when Pittsburgh threw the backwards pass in the playoff game in Denver and we did not get the ball and could not challenge for it???
I think that should also be reviewed and changed! I really did not understand that – and it would have been huge for momentum in that game.
GLAD WE STILL WON THAT GAME!!!
GO BRONCOS!!!
Thanks again Royal, its working out good, its actually opened alot of doors for me.
I hope we sign Okoye, that would be grand.
OC, that really urked me during that game, if we get the call, maybe it doesnt go overtime, or if champ intercepts in the end zone, one play before Big Ben threw the touchdown. But very good ending to the game just the same
Strand, when is he supposed to come to denver?
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=NFL&id=4174&line=230716&spln=1
walterfootball now has Broncos taking another wideout as Kendall Wright predicted to go earlier than #25.
They now have Broncos taking Stephen Hill from GT. Also addressing DT in 2nd with with Brandon Thompson from Clemson.
Broncos did add two WR’s in Jason Hill and Andre Caldwell, and both can run the 40 under 4.40 so that doesn’t add up to me. jmo.
Just cuz the run fast 4os dont make them good returners … i imagine thats why they got some of them. Royal was special in the return game and they dropped the ball. Its not about just speed, but vision. My vote is for Vaughn as returner
TRB
“OFFICIAL MOCK DRAFT”
1st rd-Fletcher Cox DT Mississippi St…best DT in the draft!
2nd rd-Brandon Boykin CB/KR/PR Georgia….ATHLETE!
3rd rd-Mychal Kendricks LB California…..a steal in the 3rd!
4th rd-Vick Ballard RB Mississippi St……4.40 speed and solid!
4th rd-Vontage Burflict ILB Arizona St….Hightower won’t fall to #25
5th rd-Mike Daniels DT Iowa…..more DTs!
5th rd-Malik Jackson DE Tennessee….another DL!
6th rd-Kellen Moore QB Boise ST……future!
Never said it make them good returners, although Caldwell has experience in return game.
I’m thinking more along the fact he’ll need good route runners who can get separation.
never said ya did. Was just saying i imagine thats why they got em … part of the reason at least.
TRB
I don’t see us taking a WR, are guys are pretty young. As for Tannenhill…. May be open to that option if they see really good D talent in later rounds. This will get interesting though, A the draft starts on April 27 Right?
BTW, what did ever happen to Bay? I don’t see him post any more.
Called it quits. Said it wasn’t fun anymore. Left a message in a old blog
TRB
Thats too bad, he helped a lot of people on this blog.. and managed some fun games. Did it have to do with the Tebowmaniacs?
I hear you TRB… part of the reason.
It’s all about speed now and obviously finding open seams to return ball whether up the middle or down the sidelines.
Eddie was smart but it didn’ hurt that he ran a 4.39 either. Eddie was a great player but time to move on.