Former players blast NFL over fair catch proposal

One proposed NFL rule change has members of the football community quite upset on the Monday before Memorial Day. 

According to Lou DiPietro of Audacy, a topic discussed during the owners' meetings this week is an idea for players to be allowed to call for a fair catch anywhere inside their team's 25-yard line on kickoffs. Subsequently, the ball would be placed at the 25-yard line as if a touchback occurred. 

Retired return specialist Brian Mitchell and former punter Pat McAfee are among the noteworthy individuals who blasted the NFL regarding the suggestion that may be voted on by owners on Tuesday. 

"Why is it that they’re still trying to act as if this is where all the concussions are coming from? There’s a person every week going down on all sides of the ball, but people heart that narrative and fall for it—and that’s a bunch of crap," Mitchell said about kickoff plays during Monday's edition of the "BMitch and Finlay" program that airs on 106.7 The Fan out of Washington, D.C. 

Per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, the NFL's competition committee recommended the new rule "in an effort to reduce injuries on kickoffs." According to Chris Novak of The Comeback, McAfee said during his show on Monday that he knows of multiple people within the NFL who are against the fair-catch idea. 

"So, I was being told by people behind the scenes—not only at that particular position, special teams coordinators, which I’m friends with… like seven of them who actually, you know, I keep in contact with. Head coaches don’t; GMs don’t like this," McAfee explained. "Nobody really likes this rule potentially being an NFL rule which would be a fair catch on a kickoff going to the 25-yard line." 

McAfee added: "This is disgusting; this is not what football is." 

Smith indicated that the rule change may not have enough support from owners to receive at least 24 votes necessary for approval. Per DiPietro, reporter JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington mentioned that Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos and Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions are members of a so-called "coach pushback" against the change. 

Meanwhile, NFL insider Albert Breer tweeted that a vote on the rule "may not happen at all" due to "strong opposition" from coaches: