Tom Coughlin, John Mara together on NFL's competition committee? It appears so

Tom Coughlin’s resignation from the New York Giants was an awkward affair. But he and Giants owner John Mara now will be on the same committee together again.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the out-of-work Coughlin joins two other prominent newcomers to the influential committee.

Coughlin, who turns 70 next week, led the Giants to two Super Bowl victories but stepped down from the team following the 2015 season under strange circumstances. The divorce couldn’t have been summed up better than in the way the two passed each other at the Giants’ facility after Coughlin gave his farewell speech.

Perhaps the ice has thawed a bit between Coughlin and Mara. After all, the Giants plan to welcome Coughlin to their Ring of Honor, which was announced not long after his firing. Plus, Coughlin was seen working out at the team’s facility on a nearly daily basis for an extended period before not showing up anymore. But there has to be some bad blood there lingering, even a bit, between the former coworkers.

Now they’ll apparently sit on a small, powerful of current coaches, team executives and front-office personnel who help make NFL rules. The Competition Committee, which has been in existence since 1968, “reviews all competitive aspects of the game, including (but not limited to) playing rules, roster regulations, technology, game-day operations and player protection.”

Former New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin reportedly will be on the NFL's competition committee (AP).
Former New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin reportedly will be on the NFL’s competition committee (AP).

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Current members include Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, the committee’s chairman; Dallas Cowboys executive Stephen Jones; Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy; Baltimore Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome; Houston Texans GM Rick Smith; Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis; Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin; plus Mara, and the newcomers.

Los Angeles Rams head coach Jeff Fisher, a longtime member, stepped down from the committee in February amid the team’s transition from St. Louis in what he said he hoped would be a temporary absence from serving. McKay had been suspended in the wake of the Falcons being found guilty of pumping crowd noise into the Georgia Dome, but since has been reinstated.

Elway now finds himself as one of the most influential figures in the league. The Hall of Famer who won two Super Bowls as a player now has guided the Denver Broncos to two Super Bowl appearances under his watch, winning Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers in February. The popular Arians, twice named Coach of the Year in the past few seasons, is very outspoken — most recently saying he thought that a new NFL innovation, sideline video, “helps bad coaches.”

It’s not clear if any other members are leaving the committee with the additions of Coughlin, Elway and Arians. But there are enough people serving now, it appears, to create enough of a buffer so that Mara and Coughlin don’t have to sit next to each other when the committee meets.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!