Todd Bowles and John Lynch added to Competition Committee

The Competition Committee added two more members, bringing the committee roster to 10, where it was two years ago. Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles and 49ers general manager John Lynch were added to the influential committee; both are not only former players, but both were defensive backs. Combined with the assignment of Sean McDermott and Sean McVay in February, four people have been added to the committee this calendar year after four left since the summer of 2023.

Before the 2023 season began, Ravens executive vice president Ozzie Newsome stepped down unannounced from the committee and coaches Frank Reich, Ron Rivera, and Mike Vrabel were all fired from their teams, causing them to be dropped from the committee. All four were former players.

In tracking the history of the committee, those that are on the committee as they propose the offseason rulesmaking are considered on the committee for that year. That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of in-season work and discussion amongst the committee, but nearly all decisions it makes from this point forward are for the 2025 season.

In the 2024 rulesmaking cycle, there were no former players on the team. When the competition committee evolved from the rules committee in 1968 through 1974, there were no players on the committee; 2024 was the only other time former players were shut out. In that 2024 rulesmaking cycle, there was a major reconfiguration to the kickoff procedure and swivel-type hip-drop tackles were banned. Notably, the players union opposed the hip-drop tackle rule.

From 2020 to 2023, the competition committee carried an all-time high of 4 former players.

Lynch is the second committee member to have played beyond the 2000 season, retiring in 2008. Vrabel is the other one, who left the field in 2010. Bowles was a player through the 1993 season. Lynch’s legacy as a headhunter on the field makes him an interesting choice for the committee. In 2005, Lynch was fined $75,000 for his fourth disciplinary action for an illegal helmet hit — even too extreme for an era that celebrated concussive bell-ringing hits and years before the rules defined a defenseless player. At the time, Lynch acknowledged his hard play, but insisted he was “within the rules.”

With these appointments, it marks the return of the Buccaneers and 49ers to the competition committee table. Current chairman Rich McKay was on the committee since 1994 when he was general manager of the Bucs, and continued to stay on the committee after he resigned and was hired by the Falcons in 2003. The 49ers were on the committee for only 3 years: George Seifert was on the committee in summer 2005 until he resigned from the team following the 2006 season, and Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh in 1987-88.

Also of note, McKay is listed as the co-chairman of the competition committee with Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones, son of owner Jerry Jones. The younger Jones is officially listed as a co-owner by the Cowboys, effective this year. McKay has been either co-chairman or solo chairman of the committee since 1998. In fact, for 49 years of the 57 years the committee has existed, it has been run by McKay or Tex Schramm, the former longtime Cowboys general manager.

• Ownership
  • John Mara (NYG)
  • Stephen Jones (COO/co-owner, DAL)
  • Katie Blackburn (executive vice president, CIN)
• Executives
  • Rich McKay (president/CEO, ATL)
  • Chris Grier (general manager, MIA)
  • John Lynch (general manager, SF)
• Coaches
  • Mike Tomlin (PIT)
  • Sean McDermott (BUF)
  • Sean McVay (LAR)
  • Todd Bowles (TB)