John Madden has been heavily involved with the NFL since retiring from a storied career as a television announcer. Among other posts, Madden is co-chair of the NFL Player and Safety Advisory Panel.
In that capacity, Madden told The Sports Xchange that he already was seeing better tackling after the first day of preseason games because of the NFL's increased emphasis on safety.
Madden also is the chairman of the coaches subcommittee of the NFL's Competition Committee. He was a big proponent of the crown of the helmet rule that has received a great deal of publicity entering this season.
"This is a way of looking at player safety and the way the game is played and how it will be played," Madden said in 2011. "Football is a tough game, the NFL is tough. Guys are big and fast and strong and there are violent hits. It's a violent game. Within that, how do we make it safer?
"You are not going to take the hitting out of football, or take big, fast, strong guys having collisions out of football. There are ways of making it safer and I just want to be part of that."