The NFL's plan to fix the catch rule is starting to take shape.
A new six-member catch rule committee includes three coaches, a former executive, a former referee and a former wide receiver.
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported, per a league spokesman, the committee's purpose is to streamline and improve the catch rule. The personnel charged with this task includes the following:
Bill Polian (former NFL executive)
Ken Whisenhunt (coach/offensive coordinator)
Jim Schwartz (coach/defensive coordinator)
Joe Philbin (coach/offensive coordinator)
Tom Finken (former side judge)
The group will make a recommendation to the Competition Committee on how to improve the most perplexing rule in sports.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday morning on SiriusXM NFL Radio that understanding the nuances from every perspective is vital when making any adjustment.
"I think what we have to do is we have to settle on the rule that is properly communicated, properly understood and be officiated in play that, from a players' perspective, they feel comfortable with," Goodell said. "So we're gathering input on that. We've got a sub-committee that's working and analyzing all the data, trying to come up with suggestions for the Competition Committee to consider. We have some former players, former GMs, former coaches, former officials, they're all going to be working on it, and we want that input.
"We want to be able to understand better how we actually define how long they have to keep possession of the ball, and that's really the key issue and sometimes people disagree with the rule, but a lot of the time, the officials have it correct," Goodell continued. "So we have to get that where it's consistently done and it's consistently understood."
It will be interesting to see how much input the NFL seeks out from current players, such as Dez Bryant or Calvin Johnson, both of whom have had controversial non-catches and said they'd be willing to lend their experience in fixing the rule.
"We don't know what will come out of it," Dean Blandino, vice president of officiating, told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. "Maybe there's something the (competition) committee hasn't considered in the past."
Let's be honest, whatever the group comes up with, it can't be worse than the current rule, which causes confounding calls on a weekly basis.
