NFL may penalize players for slurs

The National Football League’s competition committee may attempt to clean up the language on the field next season. Under consideration is a rule that would penalize a team 15 yards if a player uses the N-word. A second infraction, and the player could be ejected from a game.

Ozzie Newsome, one of the committee members and general manager of the Baltimore Ravens, told reporters Saturday that the league is investigating ways to reduce the use of racial and gender-related slurs sometimes used during games.

Newsome is in Indianapolis, Ind., for the NFL’s scouting combine, an annual week-long showcase where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of NFL coaches, general managers and scouts. 

Speaking at the combine, John Wooten, head of the Fritz Pollard Alliance – the agency that monitors diversity in the NFL –  said, "I will be totally shocked if the competition committee does not uphold us on what we're trying to do ... We want this word (N-word) to be policed from the parking lot to the equipment room to the locker room." 

No votes will be held on any potential rule changes until next month’s owners meetings in Orlando, Fla.

Newsome noted that game officials sometimes overhear what is said on the field and that microphones also capture what is being said.

Although the announcement concerned only the N-word, Newsome said that the committee discussed the inclusion of other slurs as well, including homophobic insults.

The move comes amid increasing scrutiny faced by the NFL over the choice of certain team names and mascots that many describe as racially offensive, such as the Washington Redskins. 

In September 2013, New York's Oneida Indian Nation ratcheted pressure against the league and the Washington Redskins to get the team to change its nickname, which it said is offensive to Native Americans.

"We do not deserve to be called redskins," said Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter in a radio ad campaign. "We deserve to be treated as what we are – Americans."

In December 2013, top civil rights organizations, including the ACLU and NAACP, approved a resolution calling on the team to drop the name “Redskins.”

Despite the growing criticism, no indication was given Saturday that officials were also reconsidering team names or mascots.

The news also came two weeks after NFL draft prospect Michael Sam publicly declared he is gay.

Speaking at the combine in his first news conference since coming out, Sam said, “I just wish you guys would just see me as Michael Sam the football player, instead of Michael Sam the gay football player."

Projected to be a mid-round NFL draft pick, the defensive end could become the league's first openly gay player.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press