The official dates for the NFL's spring meetings at the Ballantyne Hotel are May 23-25, but all the newsworthy stuff will be decided Tuesday. So it's really a long meeting. It's also not nearly as important as the last time all the bigwigs got together, which was two months ago at the league's annual meeting in Boca Raton.
All 32 teams will have an owner or representative in town, but as of late Thursday, it was unclear if the man who owns the team in the meeting's host city will be able to make it. Richardson is less than two weeks removed from his second shoulder surgery of the spring, so while he's hoping to attend, it's no sure thing.
Charlotte won't host a Super Bowl anytime soon, but it will be where three future sites are decided. Atlanta, South Florida, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Tampa are all in the bidding for the big game following the 2018-2020 seasons.
Most expect Atlanta's new stadium to win the 2018 Super Bowl, followed by Miami's renovated stadium, and then, it'll be L.A.'s turn to show off its $2.6 billion soon-to-be-built playhouse in Inglewood.
Of the proposed rule changes tabled in March and set to be discussed this week, the one involving adjustments to the replay system could produce the most noticeable differences.
The Ravens' proposal called for eliminating the current list of reviewable plays and replacing it with plays that aren't reviewable. Ideally, that would expand the range of replay. That's something most coaches would like, but owners are concerned that more replays would equal longer games.