Replay changes?

INSTANT REPLAY and injured reserve - the NFL's IRs - will be main topics as the owners consider several rules changes at their spring meetings this week.

Last year, the committee recommended having the booth official review all scoring plays and now it is proposing expanding his duties to all turnovers. That should help coaches in deciding when to use their challenges.

"This is a proposal that will definitely, I think, generate discussion, but I think it was directed at trying to speed it up," said Rich McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons and chairman of the competition committee.

A change to the injured reserve requirements for a designated player would be the first alteration in rules for that list since 1993. Until 1990, IR players had to sit out six games, and until '93 that became four games. Then the league clamped down on teams that "hid" prospects they might lose if released by placing them on IR even if their injuries were minor - or nonexistent.

Another proposal will allow each team to designate one player per week who can go on the inactive list because of a concussion and be replaced on the roster.

NFL owners also will consider moving the trading deadline from after the sixth week of the schedule to after the eighth week. McKay said the hope is to generate more deals.

Also proposed is allowing teams to have 90 players on the offseason and training camp rosters before the first cut, but counting unsigned draft choices. In the past, those unsigned players were not part of the 80-man rosters.

*  Domonique Foxworth has been elected president of the NFL Players Association without opposition. In 2007, Foxworth was elected by the Broncos as a player representative. In 2008, he became the youngest vice president of the NFLPA Executive Committee at age 25.

"One of the most important things I learned from [former NFLPA president] Kevin [Mawae] is about responsibility," Foxworth, a free agent cornerback, said to the board following his election.

"Players like to say, 'The NFLPA is our organization.' There is a wealth of experience and talent in this room, and I will reach out to each and every one of you about your interests and passions. If we work as hard as we did during the lockout now in peacetime, we will be the strongest organization in the world."

*  The Arizona Cardinals and cornerback William Gay agreed to a 2-year deal. Gay spent the previous four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

*  Former Atlanta Falcons linebacker Curtis Lofton agreed to a 5-year contract with the New Orleans Saints. Lofton, who was an unrestricted free agent, started all 16 games at middle linebacker for the Falcons last season.