:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45795718/usa-today-8011971.0.jpg)
The National Football League's Competition Committee is exploring a couple of different changes that could play a role in how NFL rosters look in the very near future.
The first change the Competition Committee is considering is expanding active rosters from 53 to 55 players. That would create an extra 64 jobs in the National Football League, increasing the number of active players from 1,696 to 1,760. As Mike Florio points out at Pro Football Talk, this means that there will be more jobs available, but if the salary cap doesn't increase, there's going to be less money for each player on average. Of course, in theory, the two extra spots would be given to more "end of the roster" types of players that would be making closer to minimum league salary anyway.
The other change involves the much-hated Thursday night games. There's a proposal on the table that would eliminate the use of the inactive list for Thursday night games, giving a team the ability to dress all 53 (or 55) of their players.
Frankly, the league should really just do away with the idea of an "inactive list" all together. A team puts 53 (or 55) players on their active roster for a reason. Why should they be prevented from using a handful of them on Sundays? Remember the Week 4 matchup this past season between the Vikings and the Atlanta Falcons? Things got so bad for Atlanta with injuries on the offensive line that they spent much of the fourth quarter with tight end Levine Toilolo lined up at right tackle. Teams shouldn't have to be faced with that situation. So one team's roster might be more talented than the other. . .big deal. Teams should be allowed to use all of their players on Sundays.
There will be numerous other things that the Competition Committee will be discussing during their meetings, but those seem like two of the bigger ones.