The NFL owners voted today to approve a later trade deadline date.
A trade deadline rule change was proposed by the Cleveland Browns in order to shift the date back to reflect a longer NFL season. The rule was accepted today and will now be set the Tuesday after week nine games.
The rule proposal was introduced back at the NFL combine by Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Barry.
NFL Rule Change
Barry gave some eye-opening information during his interview. The percentage of seasons other major sports use versus the National Football League. The MLB and NBA have their trade deadline at 65% of their calendar days within the season. The NHL is at 78% through the season for a trade deadline.
The National Football League currently has their trade deadline set at 45%.
The proposal would be 55% of the way through the calendar. If a typical regular season is 122 days (the 2024 season will be September 5th through January 5th), 55% would be 67 days. That would take us to after week ten of the NFL calendar.
According to Andrew Barry’s rule proposal, November ninth of week ten would be the proposed trade deadline for the 2024 season. This seems to be the agreed upon date.
Beneficial Rule Change
This should be beneficial for all NFL teams. Another week into the season means another week to evaluate and determine rosters for the remainder of the season. Injuries are a major factor in the NFL. With an extra week to allow for teams to add depth to any position was a smart move by team ownership.
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