NFL fights for life with helmet rule
The NFL’s new rule that will penalize contact initiated with the helmet and authorizes ejections for flagrant examples of the foul is a drastic measure. But it’s not just a big deal because of how it could fundamentally change the sport, and it’s not enough to simply say this is player safety progress, though it is a positive step.
The passage of this new rule at last week’s meetings in Orlando, make no mistake, is a landmark decision in the NFL’s history because it is the strongest admission yet of the league’s 32 owners and commissioner Roger Goodell that they are terribly worried about the consequences that concussions will have on the league’s bottom line and future existence.
Or as Goodell said last Wednesday: “We do want to make sure certain techniques are not used in our game that are not in the best interest of the game at any level.” The best interest of the game — meaning not only the financial success of the game but, now, the very existence of the game itself.
The public’s slow but improved education on concussions, the gruesome nature of injuries such as Steelers LB Ryan Shazier’s spinal cord injury last season, and the steady stream of scary, life-altering injuries to both star and relatively unknown players formed such an overwhelming mountain of evidence that it forced Goodell, the league’s owners and coaches to legislate major changes to how football is even played.
Let’s also not forget the effect of the estimated $1 billion settlement won in recent years by former players in a lawsuit against the league over its mishandling and miseducation of concussions.
Rick McKay, the Atlanta Falcons president and chairman of the league’s competition committee, suggested that players will “conform” as long as the NFL properly and consistently educates all 32 teams on the expectations of the new rule. And though it’s clearly going to be difficult to officiate, McKay suggested that once the new rule takes hold in the NFL, “hopefully this becomes the springboard to take it all the way down to all levels.” This should tell you: this isn’t just a tweak to the game of football in the NFL; this is a dramatic step taken to change the entire way the sport is both coached and played at all levels. The reason is because the sport’s overt violence has become not just an obvious threat to the players but is threatening the NFL’s business and existence itself.
O, WE’LL SEE
A major unanswered question at this stage of the Odell Beckham Jr. trade talks is whether OBJ’s relationship with the Giants has been permanently damaged by their willingness to discuss the possibility of trading him. Beckham has not spoken publicly in a while, but there have been obvious clues where this is headed: from last week’s NFL Network report that he won’t step on a football field for any team without a new contract extension, to the Daily News’ Wednesday report that Beckham had told two Rams players he wanted in with L.A. Since the Daily News broke the news last Tuesday that the Rams and Giants had discussed a Beckham trade, it has become obvious to GMs around the league — and presumably to Beckham, too — that the Giants aren’t just uncertain about what to do with Beckham; they’re actively considering trading him. (These are not Beckham trade ‘rumors,’ as I keep reading all over the place. It is a fact: the Giants have been in talks to possibly trade him).
I still think the Rams are the leading contender, despite not owning a high first-round pick (23rd overall), because I don’t think any team is going to trade for Beckham unless it’s 100% sure he’ll sign long-term there for a price both the team and OBJ are comfortable with. I do wonder if the 49ers, though, could convince Beckham to get excited about Santa Clara with young QB Jimmy Garoppolo. They hold the ninth overall pick, too.
GM John Lynch told me just as the Beckham talks were heating up in Orlando that — without any specific comment on the OBJ news, which he was just hearing — that he’s certainly always willing to make a trade that makes his team better. And with the Rams and 49ers seemingly rising to contend as fierce rivals in the NFC West for years to come, there is added incentive for Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan to beat the Rams’ Les Snead and coach Sean McVay to the punch if Beckham is dealt.