At the NFL Combine Browns GM Andrew Berry explains the rule change the organization plans to propose at the league's annual owners meetings to move the trade deadline back two weeks.
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00:00 As a league, it makes sense to give teams the most flexibility as long as possible to have the best product down the stretch running the playoffs.
00:07 Number two, we wanted to make sure that we could maintain the competitive integrity of the season so you don't get into, let's say, player dumping later in the year.
00:17 Number three, we wanted to retroactively correct the fact that the trade deadline never moved when the season expanded to 17 games.
00:25 And then really number four, if at some point in the future the regular season expands to 18 games, we wanted to be proactive in terms of the positioning for the trade deadline.
00:35 One of the things that we found, Tony, I'll touch on two parts, you're probably getting more than you bargained for, but I'll touch on two parts here.
00:42 If you look at us compared to the other major sports leagues, if you look at their seasons by calendar days or games played, baseball and basketball, they have the trade deadline at 65% of the games they play.
00:54 Hockey's at 78%. Currently, we're at 45%. Our proposal would move it to about 55% of the games played.
01:01 And oh, by the way, over the last 10 years, the earliest that a team has been eliminated from postseason consideration has been Week 11.
01:09 That happened in 2014 and 2016. If you even look at the last three, 27 or more teams are actually within two games of the wildcards.
01:17 So we felt that was like the sweet spot where we can add additional flexibility, be proactive in terms of how we're thinking about it, but it could also be at a time where teams are still competitive as they thought about the price.
01:29 If you think of a GM who could be against it, why hasn't it happened?
01:32 You'd be surprised. You'd be very surprised. You'd be very surprised. I can't either. I feel the same way, Tony. So I may need to bring you to the annual meetings.
01:39 Interviews, is that something you get voted on?
01:41 It's probably to be determined. There are probably enough within the committee process. There's probably more discussion to be had on the overall topic.
01:51 And whether it goes to the floor, that'll probably be determined as we get closer to the end of the season.