ORLANDO, FLA. — Browns
general manager Andrew Berry was like a politician on Election Day on Tuesday morning.
Berry was one of five general managers, along with the Philadelphia Eagles
, Detroit Lions
, Washington Commanders
and New York Jets
, who had put forth a proposal being considered
by the league's owners to move the trade deadline from the Tuesday following Week 8 to the Tuesday following Week 10. And on this Tuesday, as he spoke to a small group of beats writers, including the Beacon Journal
, at the NFL owners meetings in Orlando, Fla., he was waiting on the outcome of the vote.
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Although, Berry had an inkling even speaking an hour or so before the results were announced, he wasn't going to quite get his way.
"I hope so, but if I had to make a prediction today, I think what'll happen is there will be more appetite to move it back one week as opposed to two," Berry said. "But if it moves at all, I would be pretty happy. Don't print that till after the vote. I don't want them to think that till after the vote."
Berry knew what he was talking about. Roughly two hours after he spoke, the NFL announced the owners had voted to implement a different trade deadline proposal — one put forth by the Pittsburgh Steelers — that moved it up the Tuesday after Week 9.
For the purposes of the upcoming season, the deadline will fall on Nov. 5.
It was progress, no doubt. However, it wasn't quite the progress that Berry was hoping to see on a subject that held an extra special meaning to him.
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"In the general manager and head coaches meeting, there was an exchange where I couldn't hold my tongue," Berry said. "I felt like someone was characterizing it in an inaccurate way. I'm trying to get better at that as I get older, but they're just sometimes I can't hold my tongue."
Berry spoke at length about the proposal while at the combine in late February. At the time, he pointed to how early in the NFL season the deadline is relative to other professional sports leagues.
For Major League Baseball and the NBA, the season's 65% completed before the deadline, while the NHL's at 78%. The NFL's current deadline puts it at 45% through the season, while the proposal that was passed put it at exactly 50% through.
The proposal the Browns put their weight behind would've made it 55%.
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"I think there are probably two competing aspects in play," Berry said Tuesday. "I think it feels more aggressive than it actually is. So, people are just scared of this football apocalypse where everybody's trading away their best players and you have the haves and haves' nots. And I think the second element is that you do have a number of franchises that are just maybe a little bit more resistant to change."
Browns among teams voting in favor of new kickoff rule
The Browns didn't actively propose any other rule changes. However, they played a role in the passage of one of the more game-shifting proposals
.
On Tuesday, the owners voted to pass a modification to the kickoff rule by a 29-3 vote. Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam stated during a sit-down with a small group of reporters, including the Beacon Journal, on Monday that they were in favor of the rule.
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"I think we're in favor of, certainly we want to keep the foot in the game," Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Monday. "We're in favor of the play. What everybody decides on what the exact proposal is, we'll work through that today I believe. But we're certainly in favor of adding an exciting play to our game."
The rule proposal was originally tabled on Monday, when the league passed three new rules, including the banning of the "swivel hip-drop tackle." After a day of maneuvering, the kickoff rule received the number of votes needed.
The rule established that 21 of the 22 players on the field at the time of the kickoff will be on the receiving team's side of the 50. The only player who would be on the kicking team's side of the 50 would be the kicker, who would still kick the ball from his own 35.
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The other 10 players on the kicking team would line up across the opposing team's 40. The return team would have to have at least seven players — and often closer to nine — in what is known as the "set up zone," a five-yard area between their own 35 and 30.
Return teams are allowed a maximum of two players to line up in the "landing zone," which is a newly conceived area between the goal line and the return team's 20. That landing zone is a critical piece of the proposal, because the ball must either touch a player or the ground in that zone before anyone other than a return specialist can move.
Other aspects include:
-
Kickoffs must be returned if they hit the landing zone;
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Kickoffs that hit in the landing zone and go into the end zone must be returned or downed. If downed, the ball is marked at the return team's 20-yard line.
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Kickoffs that go into the end zone, either by being downed or by going out the back out of end zone, for touchbacks would go out to the return team's 30-yard line, which was modified on Sunday by the committee
-
Kickoffs that come up short of the landing zone would be treated like it went out of bounds and the return team would get the ball at its own 40-yard line.
"I think all 32 clubs are going to be figuring it out as it goes, which means it's not an advantage to anybody," Stefanski said. "So, I have the same questions that I'm sure everybody has. What do the returners on this play look like? Are they more punt returner, shifty guys? Is it more of a kick returner, one-cut run? The guys on the kickoff team, do you need more length? Is it bigger bodies as opposed to speed like before? I don't think anybody knows that. I think that's the exciting part for us as coaches is to get on the board and talk about it.
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"Obviously, Bubba and I have been spending a lot of time on it already in anticipation of it passing. And then how it factors into your roster construction, all those types of things. So, I think everyone, if it passes, we'll be working that out on the fly."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal:
NFL goes with Week 9 over Week 10 in trade deadline change
