Why the Packers and 49ers voted against the NFL’s radical new kickoff rule that 29 other owners voted for

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The NFL’s 32 owners approved one of the most dramatic rule changes in league history this week when they voted through the new kickoff rule. 

Although the proposal ended up getting approved, it wasn’t done unanimously. The final voting tally for the rule was 29-3. 

So who were the three teams that voted against it? Glad you asked. Let’s take a look. 

Although the Packers are the NFL’s only publicly owned team, the public doesn’t get to vote at the owners’ meeting. Instead, that honor goes to team president Mark Murphy, who voted against the kickoff rule. 

Murphy wanted to see the NFL give the new rule a test run in the preseason before implementing it for the regular season, which is why he voted against it. 

“Our issue was that it’s such a major change, my thought — our thought — was it makes sense to have, maybe, as a trial or experiment in the preseason to see. There’s going to be some unintended consequences, I think, and I just felt that it made sense to have a trial,” Murphy said, via PackersNews.com. 

Even though the Packers voted against the rule, that doesn’t mean they don’t like it. As a matter of fact, Murphy likes that kickoff returns will be making a comeback this year, especially since the Packers have one of the best returners in the game in Keisean Nixon. 

“That said, it passed, so we’ll be very supportive of it,” Murphy said. “And we have one of the better kick returners in the league, so we’ll put that to our advantage.”

Nixon averaged 26.1 yards per return last season, which ranked second in the NFL for any player who had 10 or more returns in 2023.

The 49ers appeared to have some of the same concerns the Packers had. Like Murphy, 49ers owner Jed York was also concerned about the possibility of unintended consequences that could come with such a drastic rule change. 

“I think the concern is that it’s such a drastic change to a play,” York…

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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/why-the-packers-and-49ers-voted-against-the-nfls-radical-new-kickoff-rule-that-29-other-owners-voted-for/

Author : John Breech

Publish date : 2024-03-28 16:46:27

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