News: BTB: Dez Bryant Offers To Help Roger Goodell Clarify Catch Rule

[NewsBot]

The NFL is looking to find a better solution for the catch rule and Dez Bryant is offering to help.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced last week that the NFL is forming a special committee to review the catch rule with the goal of simplifying how officials rule what is and isn't a catch.

Goodell told reporters that he enlisted a group of current and former general managers, former players and former officials to make recommendations to the league's competition committee about changes to the catch rule.

Add at least one current player who is enthusiastically volunteering to help with the effort:

“That’s cool!” Bryant told USA TODAY Sports, when told about the committee. “They need to invite me. Tell them they need to call me, so I can have my input.”
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As Cowboys fans are well aware, the issue with the current rule is that there is an obvious disconnect between what those watching the games are seeing and what those officiating the games are calling. In many instances, what is clearly a catch turns out to be - by rule - not a catch.

In the wake Dez Bryant's controversial non-catch against the Packers in last year's playoffs, the NFL Competition Committee tweaked the wording of the rule, but didn't change the meaning of the rule.

The problem with the tweaked wording is that Bryant's catch in the Packers game would still not be ruled a catch under the modified catch rule.

“There are a lot of factors to consider,” Goodell said. “How it’s officiated, how it’s played, how it’s coached, how the fans react. We want clarity to that. We want to find a better solution if it’s out there.”
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Given that the NFL's own experts in the NFL Competition Committee failed to address the issues the rule still has, it's actually a good idea by the NFL to bring in former GMs, former officials, and former players to help fix the rule. It might be an even better idea to bring in current GMs, current officials and current players to help find a better solution.

And having Dez Bryant involved in that solution, and later maybe even endorsing it?

The NFL could do a lot worse.

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