League intends to sideline players not following new padding guidelines

[BLUE 1,026]

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on July 10, 2013, 10:49 PM EDT

 

The National Football League has made it mandatory for players to wear knee and thigh pads beginning with the upcoming season. Many players, especially at the wide receiver and defensive back positions, have elected not to wear the padding in previous years (such as Seattle’s Sidney Rice and Atlanta’s Asante Samuel, pictured).

 

Players could expect a hit to their wallets for not conforming to uniform policy stipulations such as shoe and sock color. However, the league plans to take the discipline a step further if players plan to willfully violate the new policy on padding. According to Tom Pelissero of USA Today, the NFL will pull a player from the game if they are not complying with the rule changes.

 

“The more important deterrent, quite frankly, is that player will be removed from the game, and no player wants to miss time on game day,” NFL vice president of football operations Merton Hanks said. “The coaches certainly have voiced their opinion — that’s not something they’re willing to tolerate. Can you imagine having a player that you’ve designed a play for not in the game because he’s chosen not to adhere to the padding options that every other player has to adhere to?”

 

Many players have been critical of the new policy. Dallas Cowboys safety Barry Church said having to wear the pads was “going to stink.” San Diego Chargers linebacker Jarrett Johnson called it “a P.R. stunt” and Denver Broncos cornerback Quentin Jammer said it was “dumb.”

 

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Greg Little steadfastly declared he wouldn’t wear the pads.

 

Nominal fines haven’t deterred players from violating uniform rules in the past so the league has decided to take away something that matters a bit more – their playing time. Uniform inspectors will survey the players beginning in pregame activities and will notify the teams if any adjustments need to be made. If a player doesn’t comply with the requests they will be sidelined until they do. Fines are still possible as well for violations.

 

Ultimately Hanks doesn’t feel it will be a major issue for the players to adjust to the changes.

 

“We anticipate, quite frankly, minimal action in this regard and would love to be 100-percent,” Hanks said. “Wearing thigh and knee pads is no different than wearing a helmet and shoulder pads. We won’t allow you to play without a helmet on, either.”

 

Source: ProFootballTalk

[Crash 105]

Not sure how I feel about this. Love that they have to wear full pads again but pulling players from a game seems extreme although if players will willing pay the fine and not wear them I guess you have to go extreme

[Attyla the Hawk 197]

Wearing thigh and knee pads is no different than wearing a helmet and shoulder pads

 

What complete nonsense. Seriously someone should be maintaining a log of the leagues' complete BS statements for the record. The sheer level of conceit required to repeatedly make these statements so boldly is staggering to me.

[Bang 12]

What complete nonsense. Seriously someone should be maintaining a log of the leagues' complete BS statements for the record. The sheer level of conceit required to repeatedly make these statements so boldly is staggering to me.

 

This is what happens to society when everyone must bend over backwards to avoid lawsuits.

 

We are an overly litigious society conditioned by an overstuffed legal profession to consider every unfortunate occurrence as if we are victims of someone else's negligence.

 

This is why elementary schools ban games of 'tag' all the way up to why the NFL must cover every one of it's possible bases before some lawyer convinces an ex-player that he can't walk because his football coach employer did not require him to wear knee pads.

the best way to avoid a lawsuit is to not allow anything that can be used against you by the bottom-feeders who treat our legal system like an ATM machine.

Practically every dumbass WTF decision like this can be traced back to fear of litigation.

 

~Bang

Edited July 11, 2013 by Bang

[Dutch 874]

This is what happens to society when everyone must bend over backwards to avoid lawsuits.

 

We are an overly litigious society conditioned by an overstuffed legal profession to consider every unfortunate occurrence as if we are victims of someone else's negligence.

 

This is why elementary schools ban games of 'tag' all the way up to why the NFL must cover every one of it's possible bases before some lawyer convinces an ex-player that he can't walk because his football coach employer did not require him to wear knee pads.

the best way to avoid a lawsuit is to not allow anything that can be used against you by the bottom-feeders who treat our legal system like an ATM machine.

Practically every dumbass WTF decision like this can be traced back to fear of litigation.

 

~Bang

 

This is absolutely true.

[oochymp 2,393]

Not sure how I feel about this. Love that they have to wear full pads again but pulling players from a game seems extreme although if players will willing pay the fine and not wear them I guess you have to go extreme

I don't think anyone will really miss time for this, it's not going to be a "you came out without pads, you don't play this week" but rather "go back and put your pads on then you can play"

 

at worst it'll just be a scenario where week 1 (most likely pre-season week 1) a handful of players are sent back to the lockerroom to put pads on before the game starts, we might see one stubborn player sit out a play or two before he sullenly trots back to the lockerroom to put his pads on, then by the next week everyone will realize that the league was serious and it'll be a non-issue

 

EDIT: yep, from the USAToday article linked in the OP:

That doesn't mean an ejection. The player simply leave the field and make the proper adjustments before he's allowed to return, just as he would if he tried to enter the game without a helmet or shoulder pads.

by the end of the preseason this will be less than a non-issue

Edited July 11, 2013 by oochymp

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

Personally leg pads never really did much outside of protecting me a few times when I was in piles from getting cleated... Pretty useless.

 

I really don't think it's that big of a deal though...

[Bang 12]

Frankly, i'd rather the be forced to wear a cup. Some of those guys leave nothing to the imagination in HD.

 

~Bang

[DavethePanther 37]

Simple waiver..... Have the players sign a waiver. The waiver stating that they are aware of the risks by not wearing knee or hip pads. If thye are injured and the pad could have prevented the injury the player will forfeit a percentage of pay. The lose pay for each week they are out because of the injury. Secondly they also forfeit any further claim against the NFL after their playing days if the injury cause permanent damage.

Edited July 12, 2013 by DavethePanther

[Crash 105]

Wouldn't it make more sense if the players had to were knee braces? Wouldn't that be more affective at protecting your knees then the knee pads

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Yes, but that makes farrrrr too much sense.