The league begins two days of safety meetings at NFL headquarters in New York on Tuesday. Troy Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, tweeted that the meeting will include coaches, owners, officials and former NFL players.
They will discuss ways to protect players from unnecessary risk.
The future of the kickoff is among items on the agenda and several players, including Lorenzo Alexander, Matthew Slater and Michael Thomas, have taken to social media on the heels of the meeting. Alexander encouraged the NFL to maintain “the integrity of special teams.”
The league saw a record 291 diagnosed concussions last season, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN, and Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier seriously injured his spine.
The NFL already announced a new rule outlawing lowering the head to initiate contact with the helmet, and in conjunction with the NFLPA, it has banned the use of 10 helmet models.