NFL Considering New Rule To Penalize Racial Slurs

By Aaron Wilson, National Football Post

The NFL competition committee, at the suggest of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, is considering recommending a rule proposal where players would be penalized 15 yards for using the N word on the field.

"We did talk about it, I'm sure that you saw near the end of the year that Fritz Pollard came out very strong with the message that the league needs to do something about the language on the field," said Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, a member of the competition committee. "So we did discuss over the last three days."

Newsome said the committee also discussed penalizing those who use homophobic slurs.

An ejection for a second infraction is a probable element of the rule proposal.

"With any rule that we put into play we have to look at it from A to Z and find out any unintended consequences as much as the consequences," Newsome said. "So, as it was stated in our meeting, there are mics everywhere, so if something has been said it's probably going to be captured somewhere. So there will be an opportunity to get it verified if we have to."

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Aaron Wilson covers the Ravens for The Baltimore Sun