INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL’s overhaul of kickoffs looks like it’s here to stay.
Rams coach Jeff Fisher, a key member of the league’s influential competition committee, said yesterday concussions on kickoffs were reduced by a whopping 40 percent last season after the NFL moved the spot up five yards to the 35-yard line and prohibited a running head start of more than five yards by the kickoff team.
Fisher said touchbacks also increased “tremendously” in 2011, though he wouldn’t give a specific number. But the large drop in concussions at a time when the league is under siege from former players on that issue means fans should get used to a lot fewer returns.
“It worked,” Fisher said during a break in the scouting combine. “We had success with it. There will be more discussion and suggestions, but what we set out to accomplish was accomplished.”
Fisher, who regained a voting spot on the competition committee when he returned to coaching this year, made it sound like the kickoff play in general is on thin ice.
“The forefathers of our game, had they known what we know now about injuries on kickoffs, the kickoff play wouldn’t be part of the game,” Fisher said.
The committee also is discussing applying the postseason overtime rules change to the regular season as soon as this fall.
The change, which guarantees each team a possession in overtime unless the receiving team opens with a touchdown, was adopted in 2010 and came into play in two games this year — the Giants’ NFC title-game win over the 49ers and the Broncos’ wild-card victory over the Steelers.
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Fisher and Rams executives confirmed that St. Louis is willing to listen to trade offers for the No. 2 overall pick and could be in line for quite a bounty with clubs appearing to gain interest in Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.
The Browns and Redskins are thought to be the teams most interested in moving up to the second spot to make sure they can grab Grifffin. The Colts are expected to go with Stanford’s Andrew Luck at No. 1 overall.
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Combine TV viewers likely will feel short-changed this weekend.
Not only did Luck and Griffin announce yesterday they have decided not to throw in Indianapolis, but Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon — widely considered the top receiver available — won’t run until his pro day next month because of a tender hamstring.
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Oklahoma State QB prospect Brandon Weeden, a 28-year-old former Yankees draft pick, used a New York City reference to make light of his age yesterday.
“I wish I could do a Danny Almonte with my birth certificate, but I can’t,” Weeden said, referring to the Dominican Republic native who led his team from the Bronx to the 2001 Little League World Series title before it was discovered his parents had lied about his age.
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The league confirmed a New York Times report that it is discussing spicing up the usually hum-drum combine workouts by having prospects take part in head-to-head competitions in the 40-yard dash and 225-pound bench press.
The NFL is trying to make the event more attractive to TV and fans and comes on the heels of the recent announcement that 600 fans were selected to attend tomorrow’s combine workouts at Lucas Oil Stadium. It’s the first time fans have been allowed to watch what less than 10 years ago was a highly secret, closed-door event.
bhubbuch@nypost.com
