LEAGUE TO EXPLORE BEREAVEMENT ROSTER EXEMPTION?

Chris Mortensen of ESPN mentioned moments ago that he has spoken with members of the Competition Committee regarding the current absence of a roster exemption that would have allowed kicker Matt Bryant to take Sunday off in the wake of his infant son’s death without having to sign a new kicker and then, in turn, cutting a current member of the 53-man roster. Mort says that, because teams have backups at every position except kicker, a change to the rules could come. But we think that the better approach would be to create a bereavement roster exemption for all players regardless of position, based on the death of an immediate family member. In this case, the Bucs didn’t ask for an exemption, apparently because they already knew that an exemption wasn’t available. Still, this is another case where the league needs to be proactive and not reactive in adjusting the rules.