Dear players and coaches, NFL owners don’t care what you think when it comes to their interests – analysis

Dear NFL players and coaches:

This is a note to remind you NFL owners don’t care what you think when it comes to their business interests, primary of which is making money.

Those nice men (and some women) who greet you breathlessly in your postgame locker room after a win, and fund your paychecks, and remember your name and shake your hand on the playing field, don’t give a rip what you think when it comes to league matters.

That should be evident now.

Because those owners the last three days heard your pleas and fully understood your stances on multiple league matters. They know there was almost a consensus among players and coaches on these matters.

And knowing how rare it is to get players and coaches across 32 teams to agree on anything, the owners voted against you. All of you.

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They instead voted for their interests.

Flex And Kickoffs Votes Send Message

Cleveland running back Jerome Ford (34) catches a kick-off during the NFL game between the Cleveland Browns and the Atlanta Falcons on October 2nd, 2022 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA.  (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The league on Monday voted to flex certain late-season games from Sunday to back to Thursday this season. And on Tuesday owners voted to change the kickoff rule so as to basically water down the play by inserting fair catches behind the 25-yard line — both in and out of the end zone — would place the ball at the 25.

Players and coaches in large majorities dislike both measures. They’ve argued against both measures. They have, in some instances, told ownership of their distaste for the ideas to their faces.

And owners voted them in any way.

Start with the flex scheduling now factoring on Thursday nights, potentially moving a December game from Sunday back to Thursday as long as everyone gets 28 days notice.

It’s not popular mostly because Thursday night games are not popular among coaches and players.

Robert Kraft Voted For Flex Schedule

CEO and Owner Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots looks on prior to a game between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium on January 08, 2023 in Orchard Park, New York. (Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)

“It’s a hard week for the coaches that would start to a degree on Friday morning the week before” former Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia told Mass Live. “So you’re playing a game Sunday, and you’re working on the next team in earnest on Friday., Saturday morning, Sunday morning before the game. So it just gets loaded up.

“I think the players rock along with it pretty easily. But from a mental standpoint and a work standpoint, it’s hard on the coaches. But the players are the ones that have to go out there and play on Thursday night.”

Patriots owner Robert Kraft voted for the flex schedule on Thursday. Sorry, Dante.

Players generally love the days off that come after a Thursday night game. And even though they’re practicing the following week, the Thursday game gives them 10 days between game speed contact as opposed to the usual six days.

But players generally are not fans of how the Thursday game gives them little time to recover from their previous game only four days prior.

NFL APPROVES FAIR-CATCH TWIST TO KICKOFFS BUT NEW RULE FALLS FLAT AMONG FANS: ‘GOODBYE FUN’

Amazon Trumps Players, Coaches

NFL referee flag and shield logo during the NFL preseason football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers on August 13, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. (Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

So understand what owners are doing here: They’re going against the will of most coaches, against the will of a majority of players, against the will of fans that bought tickets to Sunday games and now have to make it to a Thursday night one.

“We’re also trying to balance how we make sure, on the other side, that we’re getting the right games into the right windows,” said Hans Schroeder, EVP and COO of NFL Media.

Owners are doing this because they want Amazon, their $11 billion streaming service partner, happy with its late-season matchups. So this was done on Monday.

Then on Tuesday the NFL changed its fair catch rules on kickoffs to include the fact any player making a fair catch either in the end zone or behind the 25 yard line would result in the ball being placed on the 25-yard line.

NFL special teams coaches almost unanimously hate the rule because it has the potential to rob them of kickoff returns and take some of the foot out of football.

Broncos Owner Votes Against Sean Payton

New Denver Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton fields questions from the media during a press conference at UCHealth Training Center on February 06, 2023 in Englewood, Colorado. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Players, particularly core special teamers, don’t like the rule because it can diminish their roles and eventually lead to their unemployment.

It’s a potentially slippery slope for both coaches and players.

Head coaches, including Dan Campbell, John Harbaugh, Bill Belichick and Sean Payton also let it be known they did not want the kickoff rule change.

Denver voted for the measure anyway. Sorry, Sean.

The NFL says on its resolution the reason for the one-year change is “player safety.”

That’s a joke, dear players and coaches. The same league alleging concern over player safety voted in March to increase the number of games a team can play on Thursday night from one to two.

Players, such as Patrick Mahomes, believe that to be nutty.

Patrick Mahomes Not A TNF Fan

Then, on Tuesday, owners voted to potentially play five of those Thursday night games, with their body recovery gap in full effect, after originally scheduling the teams to play on a Sunday.

The owners, not your friends, changed a kickoff rule for player safety because it doesn’t hurt them financially. Indeed, the kickoff rules change gives them a talking point against future legal action or collective bargaining tactics.

The flex schedule rule they changed also impacts player safety although in a potentially negative way. But that was worth changing because, again, Amazon is paying roughly $11 billion over 11 seasons.

NFL owners will counter those statistics show there as fewer injuries on Thursday night games. But because they’re not actually exposing their bodies, they don’t recognize players generally feel physically under-prepared or not fully recovered for those games.

Roger Goodell To Study More London Games

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks from the podium during Round One of the 2023 NFL Draft at Union Station in Kansas City, MO. (Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Owners also made the point that the number of injuries on kickoffs had increased last year. Coaches actually studied those stats and concluded only one of the 19 concussions suffered on those kickoffs in 2022 happened to the returner.

So the rule isn’t likely to have a great impact on the player most at risk.

Finally, commissioner Roger Goodell admitted Tuesday that the league will study how the Jacksonville Jaguars handle playing back-to-back games in London this year.

Eventually the league wants to increase that number and even have teams there fulltime. And fulltime is one thing but my guess is most players and coaches based in the USA won’t love the idea of two or three consecutive in Europe — away from home or on multiple overseas flights.

No matter.

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“The focus is to try to do two,” Goodell said, “and see what the impact is there first.”

Sorry, coaches and players. You will lose again.