Owners expected to trim OT from 15 to 10 minutes

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May 17, 2017 8:21 PM

The 32 team owners discussed the idea but tabled a proposal at meetings in Phoenix in March.

Shrinking the extra period played after 60 regulation minutes end deadlocked is a nod to player safety

NFL club owners are expected to vote next week to reduce regular-season over-time periods from 15 to 10 minutes even though it could produce more draws, the NFL Network reported Wednesday

The 32 team owners discussed the idea but tabled a proposal at meetings in Phoenix in March. They are now expected to adopt the plan at meetings next Monday through Wednesday at Chicago, the league-owned television network reported.

Shrinking the extra period played after 60 regulation minutes end deadlocked is a nod to player safety.

The NFL's competition committee found a great disadvantage for teams that played a Thursday night matchup after playing a full 15-minute over-time session the Sunday before.

Last season, there were six NFL games that went into over-time and lasted beyond 10 minutes, the second-most games to go so long in league history.

Over the past five seasons since strict sudden-death over-time was dropped, NFL research found 83 regular-season games went into over-time with 22 of them, 26.5 percent, going beyond 10 minutes.

League owners were also expected to approve a change allowing two players a season to return from injured reserve after a minimum of eight weeks sidelined. Only one is now allowed.

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