The NFL Votes To Extend The Trade Deadline, Finally

As it stands today, the NFL trade deadline falls on Week 6 of the regular season. I don't know about you, but that seems extremely early to draw the line. Apparently the NFL owners agree.

At a meeting on Tuesday right here in Atlanta, the owners voted to move the trade deadline to Week 8, providing a little more room for teams to work with.

Pending approval and agreement from the Management Council and the NFL Players Association, the NFL Trade Deadline will move from Week Six to Week Eight, giving teams two extra weeks to assess their injury and competitive situations and make moves based on all the accompanying factors.

Most critics seem to believe Week 6 is far too soon, so this new rule should please a lot of people.

When you really think about it, six games is not much to go off of. At that point in the season teams are still finding an identity, and the depth chart isn't even completely set for some. Also, injuries play into this decision in a big way. This gives more time for front offices to determine any moves they need to make if one of their key players goes down.

The move makes the trade deadline a little more interesting as well. The media always hypes up the day of the cutoff and makes it out to be a huge transaction extravaganza, but we're always let down. Maybe we'll see more big moves going forward. It's just two weeks later, but two weeks in the NFL season is huge.

As far as the Falcons go, a later trade deadline could provide more time to acquire a needed addition, although that hasn't really been their way of doing things in the past. We all certainly hope no one will get injured in 2012, but if one of Atlanta's big names does go down, they'll have some extra time to potentially adjust accordingly in the trade market. If a valuable tight end hits the trade block, now there's more time to consider picking him up.

Any thoughts on this change?