NFL Rule Changes: Why Safety Is the Real Issue in the NFL Labor Dispute

March 24, 2011   ·   Chris Markoch   ·   Jump to comments

As if the players and owners didn't have enough to disagree about, the latest rule change regarding kickoffs adds more fuel to the fire.
But that may be a good thing. This latest tempest in a tea pot may be exactly what's needed to get both sides talking about what the labor dispute is really about: What does a "safe" game look like.
The NFL has been enhancing player safety for years. Still, the issue of head trauma has been gathering momentum like storm clouds on a horizon.
And on October 17, 2010 it started to storm.
No less than three helmet-to-helmet hits within an hour brought the issue of player safety front and center. If owners didn't "get it" before, they did on that given Sunday. And it was punctuated in the story of Eric LeGrand, a Rutgers football player who suffered a spinal cord injury the day before while, wait for it, covering a kickoff.
An owner can try to look at safety as managing risk. But in the end, ...

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