Richard Sherman rips Goodell on rule proposal: ‘He’s just a suit’

So we now know what Richard Sherman thinks about NFL players possibly being ejected after two personal fouls.

At the Super Bowl, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recommended, in his state-of-the-league address, a rule change where players could be subject to ejection if they commit two personal fouls in the course of a game. In an interview with ESPN’s Jim Trotter on Sunday, Sherman ripped Goodell as being out of touch for this suggestion.

“I think it’s foolish,” Sherman said. “But it sounds like something somebody who’s never played the game would say, something that they would suggest, because he doesn’t understand. He’s just a face. He’s just a suit. He’s never stepped foot on the field and understood how you can get a personal foul.”

The league did not like what it saw with New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman taking their one-on-one battle way beyond what normal combatants might in the team’s Week 15 matchup. A few weeks later in the wild-card playoff game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, there were eight 15-yard penalties and seven calls for unnecessary roughness, unsportsmanlike conduct and personal fouls.

Sherman said the problem is that league officials who never played in the league are governing these proposals, and it extends to the ambiguity over the catch rule, which he also took aim at. Sherman’s idea: Let players help decide what is and isn’t a catch.

“Because you’ve got a bunch of suits doing it,” Sherman said. “Like I said before, you don’t have a bunch of guys … let Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin talk about it for about 20, 30 minutes. Maybe Cris Carter, Randy Moss — let those guys have a round-table discussion about what a catch should be and come up with a rule.

“I guarantee you it’d be more effective than the rule they have now because those are the pass-catchers. Those are some of the best pass-catchers we’ve had. I think it’d be more straightforward and to the point. You’ve got a bunch of guys who have never played. They’ve probably touched a football to hold it out or to shake somebody’s hand, to take a picture, but they’ve never played the game.”

Wonder if Goodell will be asked about this at the NFL owners’ meeting, which begins Monday in Boca Raton, Fla.

– – – – – – –

Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm