It’s possibly going to be harder to get out of Hard Knocks.
Via Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the league office will seek a vote of owners on Tuesday to expand the pool of teams that can be forced to submit to the preseason Hard Knocks series.
Currently, the following teams are exempt: (1) teams with first-year head coaches; (2) teams who have made the playoffs in either of the two most recent seasons; and (3) teams who have done Hard Knocks in the past 10 years.
The new rules, if approved, change the exemptions to these: (1) teams with first year head coaches; (2) teams who have done Hard Knocks in the past eight years; and (3) teams that will participate in the in-season version of Hard Knocks in the current season or the next season.
The exception based on playoffs will be dumped.
Last year, the league had only four potential teams for Hard Knocks: Jets, Commanders, Bears, Saints. The Jets were chosen, even though they did not want to do it. It was the first time that the Hard Knocks team did not want to do it. That could become the norm, if the proposal passes.
