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7 takeaways from 2015 NFL league meetings

Football's top brass gathered this week in Phoenix for the annual NFL Meeting.

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For four days, owners, coaches and the commissioner's office discussed the future of the league, ranging from rules changes to the golden anniversary of the Super Bowl.

While you can catch up on the state of the Giants from Tom Coughlin at the NFC coaches breakfast, there was plenty of other action, as you can imagine, with the game's leadership all in one place.

Here are seven things that came out of the NFL Annual Meeting:

1. Adopted resolution and rule change proposals.

The league announced that owners voted for a variety of safety enhancements, including a rule that allows a "spotter," who is a certified athletic trainer, to call a medical timeout during games if a player displays obvious signs of disorientation or is clearly unstable. Other adopted proposals involved peel-back and chop blocks, defenseless players and allowing the ability to review the game clock at the end of the first half, game and overtime.

For a complete definition of the rules, CLICK HERE.

2. No compensatory picks for Giants this year.

A total of 32 compensatory choices in the 2015 NFL Draft were awarded to 14 teams, not including the Giants. Under the rules for compensatory draft selections, a team losing more or better compensatory free agents than it acquires in the previous year is eligible to receive compensatory draft picks. The number of picks a team receives equals the net loss of compensatory free agents up to a maximum of four.

The 32 compensatory choices supplement the 224 choices in the seven rounds of the 2015 NFL Draft held on April 30-May 2 in Chicago. Since the first year that compensatory draft choices were awarded in 1994, the Giants have received 23 of them.

3. Super Bowl is "On the Fifty."

The NFL has launched a year-long celebration to commemorate Super Bowl 50, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2015 season will feature a gold theme signifying the 50th edition of the game, or its "golden" anniversary. The 50-yard line numerals and NFL shield logo at every stadium will be gold.

4. One way or another, Eli will be a part of Super Bowl 50.

The league also announced that the 43 previous Super Bowl MVPs will be celebrated all season, culminating with special on-field recognition at Super Bowl 50. The Giants have three of them in their storied history: Eli Manning (XLII, XLVI), Phil Simms (XXI) and Ottis Anderson (XXV).

5. Lombardi Trophy will come with more hardware.

The NFL unveiled last year that the Super Bowl logo will feature "50," breaking for one year its use of Roman numerals. To commemorate this, the NFL commissioned Tiffany & Co. to handcraft the 50. Each number is cast in bronze, plated in 18kt gold and weighs nearly 33 pounds. The gold "50" will appear alongside the Vince Lombardi Trophy all year and will be presented to the Super Bowl champions.

6. Sneak peek at 2016 Pro Bowl uniforms.

As the kickoff to Super Bowl week, the 2016 Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, Jan. 31 in Hawaii. The uniforms will incorporate gold as a connection to the Super Bowl celebration.

7. Draft hats and gold carpets.

Chicago is on the clock as the 2015 NFL Draft moves this year to the Windy City from New York City for the first time since 1964. To kick off the draft, prospects and former players will walk a gold carpet as they enter the theater. New Era will add a gold shield to the back of the Draft cap that is presented to each player as he walks across the stage in primetime.

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