The Detroit Lions may not have been along in their push to change the NFL’s seeding rules, according to a report Sunday by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
The Lions proposed changing the seeding structure of the league’s playoffs to favor a team’s overall record over its place in the division. This would’ve favored the Minnesota Vikings, who finished 14-3 after losing the battle for the division lead against the Lions in the last game of last season.
The suggestion of a change initially came after that game from Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who said, “having a 14-win team having to go on the road is kind of crazy.” The Vikings went on the road and lost 27-9 to the Rams.
The NFL executive V.P. of football operations, Troy Vincent, reportedly reached out to Lions team president Rod Wood about proposing a rule change to the league’s Competition Committee.
“Troy Vincent from the league reached out to me and said, ‘I tend to agree with [St. Brown],’” Wood said. “So we made a proposal.”
The league didn’t officially put a stamp on the proposal, but it is ultimately up to 24 team owners to agree to make such a rule change. The committee chose to table the conversation until May.
Florio’s reporting suggests that the league’s approach of concocting a team’s proposal from behind the scenes represents an interesting tactic for pushing its own agenda.