NFL planning summit to discuss player safety, kickoffs

The NFL is preparing a summit for the discussion of player safety, a league spokesman confirmed to Kevin Seifert of ESPN. The meetings will be held at NFL headquarters in New York from May 1-2.

The league is aiming to address the record number of diagnosed concussions (291) in 2017, with the future of the kickoff among topics that will be discussed.

"If you don't make changes to make it safer, we're going to do away with it," Green Bay Packers president/CEO and competition committee member Mark Murphy said. "It's that serious. It's by far the most dangerous play in the game."

Only 40 percent of kickoffs were returned in 2017 as a result of moves the league had already made. But according to Murphy, it's not good enough.

"We've reduced the number of returns, but we haven't really done anything to make the play safer," Murphy said in March.