The second full day of discussions at the NFL's Annual League Meeting included taking action on seven changes to rules for 2016 and continued deliberations on other proposals.
It also featured the AFC Coaches meeting with reporters at breakfast at the hosting resort in Boca Raton, Florida.
One change that will be made permanent for 2016 and the foreseeable future is making the line of scrimmage the 15-yard-line of the defense for point after touchdown kick tries. The rule was implemented on a trial basis in 2015, and accuracy rates dropped five percentage points (99.3 percent from a 20-yard distance in 2014 to 94.2 percent from the 33-yard distance last season), adding a degree of intrigue to a nearly automatic play.
Click **here** to read about the other six rule changes approved by NFL ownership Tuesday.
Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer and the other 15 head coaches of NFC teams are scheduled to have their breakfast media sessions with reporters on Wednesday morning.
Weighing in via the web
Zimmer and Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman were both guests this week on Pro Football Talk Live with Mike Florio. Both men talked about the Vikings **status at receiver**, as well as a few other topics.
Additionally, Florio asked Zimmer about Vikings Blair Walsh, who is from Boca Raton, and how the kicker will bounce back in 2016. Zimmer expressed confidence in Walsh, who dealt with windy conditions outdoors for two seasons and is ready for the Vikings to move into U.S. Bank Stadium this fall. The Vikings season ended with a wide left attempt of a 27-yard field goal, but Zimmer said the 10-9 loss to the Seahawks in the Wild Card amounted to more than that one play.
"I think Blair will be fine. He's pretty tough mentally," **Zimmer told Florio**. "He's a good kicker, a good person, he's got a good head on his shoulders, so I think he's going to be just fine.
"The big thing about that, Mike, is there were a lot of plays in that game that happened, we gave up a big play when Russell Wilson scrambled around," Zimmer added, "and we fumbled the ball one other time, but with that kick, it's the finality of everything that shows up. He had three others in the game and if he would have made the last one, he probably would have been the MVP of the game.
Outlook on near-future foes
NFL.com Around the NFL writer Marc Sessler honed in on the four coaches of AFC South teams that the Vikings will face in 2016 (for the first time since 2012). Sessler noted a "**turn the corner**" vibe among all.
He wrote:
Chalk that optimism up to the presence of four young and promising quarterbacks in Indy's Andrew Luck, Jacksonville's Blake Bortles, Houston's Brock Osweiler and Tennessee's Marcus Mariota. Jaguars coach Gus Bradley went so far as to parallel the growth of the AFC South to what he experienced as a Seahawks assistant in the once-chuckled-at NFC West, saying: "I've been a part of that, where the NFC West was a division that everyone was commenting on, and then it came out to be one of the strongest. So, a lot of the same traits. ... I think you're going to see this division really take a step."
