In the shadows of the Magic Kingdom, the NFL basically will have a four-day celebration.
It has reason to celebrate because the meeting of NFL owners in Orlando, Fla., will be spent on far less pressing matters than the collective bargaining agreement, ratified this month after more than a year of negotiations.
It is also a celebration of the Paul Tagliabue era as commissioner. Tagliabue announced last Monday his plans to retire in July.
The league will begin the process of compiling a list of candidates, and a hiring committee will be appointed by Tagliabue on Monday. Team owners, head coaches and top executives will converge beginning today through Wednesday.
Among the annual reports and updates, the NFL’s competition committee will look at tweaking several rules, including holding and false start calls.
The competition committee chairman, Atlanta Falcons general manager Rich McKay, said there were 850 false start calls last year during the regular season.
McKay – who is expected to be a candidate to replace Tagliabue – said the competition committee is prepared to recommend that minor movements by receivers be overlooked if they have no impact on the play.
Also, the committee wants to strengthen the rules on hits below the knee on quarterbacks. There also will be a rule proposed to expand “horse collar” tackle penalties, which were initiated last season.
Currently, defenders are penalized when they come from behind and put their hands inside the shoulder pads of the ball carrier. If approved, penalties will be called for grabbing inside the shirt as well.
The Kansas City Chiefs, once again, are proposing the playoff field be expanded from 12 to 14 teams.
McKay said there is more interest around the league for that change this year, but didn’t indicate whether the proposal will be accepted.
