NCAA changes TO rules to combat fake injuries
In an effort to curtail players faking injuries, a concern that has permeated throughout college football for years, the NCAA announced Thursday that its Playing Rules Oversight Panel has approved changes to the injury timeout rules starting this fall.
Under the new rule approved Wednesday, if medical personnel enter the field to evaluate an injured player after the ball is spotted by the officiating crew for the next play, that player’s team will be charged a timeout. If the team doesn’t have any timeouts remaining, a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty will be assessed.
The proposal to adjust the injury timeout rule resulted from teams faking injuries to stop their opponents’ momentum or avoid using an allotted timeout.
Prior to the 2021 season, the NCAA decided to allow schools or conferences to request that Steve Shaw, the NCAA secretary-rules editor/national coordinator of officials, conduct a postgame video review regarding questionable actions involving injuries.
If Shaw determined that a player had faked an injury to manipulate the rules, the offending team’s conference was notified, and any possible disciplinary action could be made by the conference office.
The rule change for next season will provide an in-game way to curtail the faking of injuries because “Football Rules Committee members think these actions negatively affect the overall perception of the game,” according to the NCAA’s release.
Shaw told ESPN he will continue to review film if asked, but his role is not to determine if a player was actually hurt — it’s to decipher if a team took advantage of an injury timeout to gain an “unmerited advantage.” Shaw said on average, he was asked to review just over one per week.
The rules committee put together a nine-minute video of moments that could have been construed as feigning injuries from last season, and Shaw said the video illustrates “an integrity issue in our game that needs to be addressed.”
“When you watch that video, action is required,” Shaw said. “Sometimes players may do it on their own because it feels accepted, and that’s what we want to stop. I’m not sure there is a perfect solution, but I think this is a good first step. This will have impact to those that are very obvious and are late and looking to the sideline and going down. Coaches do not want to risk a timeout under any circumstances. Those are very valuable commodities in the game.”
If it doesn’t have impact, Shaw said, there will probably be another step, but “it’s a good starting point and hopefully this will clean it up.”
The panel on Wednesday also approved a rule change regarding overtime timeouts. If a game reaches a third overtime, each team will have one timeout beginning with the third overtime until somebody wins. Previously, each team had one timeout for each overtime period.
At the start of the third overtime, teams alternate running two-point plays until there’s a winner. The intent is to keep the action moving once a game reaches the third overtime.
The panel also approved some other tweaks:
• Referees will only say a call on the field is “upheld” or “overturned.” The terms “confirmed” and “stands” will no longer be used on instant replay decisions.
• No offensive player can be in the direct line of the snap to the potential kicker or within the frame of the snapper on punts for the formation to qualify as a scrimmage kick formation. If a team is not in scrimmage kick formation, it must have five players numbered 50 through 79 on the line of scrimmage. Additionally, if the snapper is on the end of the line by formation, the snapper will lose scrimmage kick protection, and the opposition can line a player over the snapper.
• If any player on a kickoff return team makes a “T” signal with his arms during the kick, the team gives up the right to return the kick, and the play will be whistled dead.
• Enhanced rules regarding simulating action at the snap and words or signals that distract opponents when they are preparing to put the ball in play will also be effective next season. No player can call defensive signals that simulate the sound or cadence of the offensive signals. The defensive terms “move” and “stem” would be reserved for players on that side of the ball and could not be used by the offense.
• After the two-minute timeout in either half, if the defense commits a foul with 12 or more players on the field and all the players participate in the play, the officials will administer a 5-yard penalty. The offensive team would have the option to reset the game clock back to the time at the start of the play. If the 12th player is attempting to leave the field and has no influence on the play, the defensive team will be penalized 5 yards with no adjustment to the game clock.
• Coach-to-player communication, similar to technology implemented for the FBS last year, will be allowed for teams that compete in the FCS.
Sports
How much will Kyle Tucker and Kyle Schwarber get paid this winter? MLB insiders predict their free agency
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Kiley McDaniel
We’ve collected projections for the most anticipated free agents of the last three offseasons: first it was Aaron Judge, then Shohei Ohtani, then Juan Soto (with an update in October).
While there isn’t a massive free agent expected to smash records this winter like Ohtani and Soto did, there are two players who are intriguing for different reasons and also happen to have the same first name: Kyle Schwarber and Kyle Tucker.
From one point of view, Tucker has had a solid walk year, posting 4.7 WAR with his offensive numbers down just a tick from last year’s career year but underlying metrics close to his best seasons. On the other hand, Tucker had a really rough run in August, hitting .148/.233/.148 (16 wRC+) over 15 games (61 plate appearances) from Aug. 1 to Aug. 18. This led to him sitting out games Aug. 19 and 20. The Chicago Cubs right fielder has hit well since returning, but now he’s on the injured list with a calf strain. That said, he was tied for fifth in baseball in WAR at the end of June, and he remains in the top 20.
Schwarber’s season is less complicated. The Philadelphia Phillies slugger has posted career bests in most offensive categories, including his 50 homers, 123 RBIs and 4.5 WAR. The only negatives for his outlook on free agency are that Schwarber will be 33 years old in March and has played only 13 games in the field over the last two seasons. Designated hitters well into their 30s haven’t fared well in free agency, but none of those had hit 50 homers in their walk year, so Schwarber is in uncharted territory.
How much might each of the Kyles get this winter? We polled 20 scouts, executives and agents to find out.
Kyle Tucker
How much could Tucker get?
Here are the 20 responses from our panel, grouped in tiers by total dollars.
Under $350 million (6): 11 years/$308 million, 9 years/$315 million (2x), 8 years/$320 million, 9 years/$340 million, 9 years/$342 million
$350-$399 million (4): 8 years/$352 million, 10 years/$375 million, 12 years/$375 million, 11 years/$380 million
$400-499 million (8): 10 years/$400 million, 11 years/$400 million, 11 years/$418 million, 10 years/$420 million (2x), 10 years/$425 million, 12 years/$425 million, 10 years/$450 million
At least $500 million (2): 10 years/$500 million, 12 years/$550 million
The average of all 20 projections is 10.1 years, $391.5 million, for a $38.8 million average annual value (AAV).
The median projection of those deals is $390 million.
Who are the closest comps?
Tucker’s consistent standout performance (five straight 4-5 fWAR seasons and five straight hitting performances 30% better than league average) makes it hard to find a recent free agent comparison. He’s 10th in baseball in WAR over the last five seasons.
Over the last four free agent classes, the $150M+ position players don’t have a great fit for a comp. Soto’s $765 million deal and Ohtani’s $700 million deal aren’t useful. Shortstops Willy Adames, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, Dansby Swanson, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager are positionally quite different, though Seager isn’t a terrible secondary comp. Freddie Freeman was three years older than Tucker as a free agent and Aaron Judge was two years older, while also coming off of an 11.1 WAR season with 62 homers, so neither seems that relevant. Kris Bryant was already trending down when he hit free agency, while Brandon Nimmo was trending up but had years of durability concerns.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s $500 million April extension with the Toronto Blue Jays is the comp that kept coming up with those we surveyed. Vlad’s extension kicks in next year for his age-27 season, while Tucker will be 29. It’s only two years, but it’s a very important two years in projecting the value in a long-term deal. Tucker has more baserunning and positional value, but he’s still a corner outfielder. Guerrero’s extension was signed outside of a competitive bidding situation, with the perception being that the Jays paid a little more than the market would bear to lock up their franchise player after a last-place American League East finish last season and with fellow core player Bo Bichette still unsigned.
Who are Tucker’s potential suitors?
There was little confidence from those surveyed (none of whom work for the Cubs) about the Cubs winning a bidding war for Tucker. The Los Angeles Dodgers, longtime fans of Tucker, were mentioned by a number of industry insiders. We didn’t ask about a projected team, so the Dodgers coming up often seems to be indicative of a feeling in the industry that they’re the team to beat.
Putting all of those pieces together, you can see why a contingent of the industry thinks Tucker will land somewhere around Guerrero’s extension, some think he’ll end up closer to $300 million, but most have him around $400 million, give or take, which is also where Jeff Passan’s sources led him.
Kyle Schwarber
How much could Schwarber get?
Here are the 20 responses from our panel, grouped in tiers by total dollars.
Under $100 million (2): 4 years/$72 million, 3 years/$90 million
$100-$125 million (11): 3 years/$100 million, 4 years/$100 million, 4 years/$110 million (2x), 4 years/$112 million (3x), 5 years/$118 million, 4 years/$120 million (2x), 3 years/$125 million
$126-180 million (5): 4 years/$140 million, 6 years/$150 million, 4 years/$160 million, 5 years/$160 million, 4 years/$180 million
At least $200 million (2): 6 years.$200 million, 7 years/$245 million
The average of all 20 projections is 4.3 years, $131.8 million, for a $30.7 million average annual value (AAV).
The median projection of those deals is $119 million.
Who are the closest comps?
A handful of comps come up for Schwarber:
J.D. Martinez: Five years, $110 million going into his age-30 season in 2018 (45 HRs, 4.3 WAR walk year)
Paul Goldschmidt: Five years, $130 million going into his age-32 season in 2020 (33 HRs, 4.6 WAR in walk year)
Freeman: Six years, $162 million going into his age-32 season in 2022 (31 HRs, 4.7 WAR in walk year)
The comp math would say Schwarber should get one year less than the shortest deal above due to his age (thus, four years) and land in the $25-30 million average annual value (AAV) area, which is right where those surveyed ended up.
Who are Schwarber’s potential suitors?
Conversely to the Tucker/Cubs situation, a lot of those surveyed think there’s a strong chance the Phillies will act quickly after the season ends to bring Schwarber back. Either way, he seems to be a target for a contending team looking to beef up the middle of its lineup in the short term, and hopefully not have an albatross on its ledger at the end of the deal.
All of those teams would be conscious of luxury tax numbers, and a rival agent brought up an interesting wrinkle he’s expecting to see: Schwarber will get that fifth year, for a little added money, to get the AAV down.
A number of teams should be interested at that low-nine-figure area, as the predictions suggest, but there could eventually be a landing spot closer to $150 million with enough competitive bidding. That said, some teams simply can’t stomach that kind of money for an older DH.
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