Extra Points: St. Louis, Rice, Trades, JPP

The NFL is looking into St. Louis’ plan for a new stadium, but even if the proposal meets all of the league’s criteria, Stan Kroenke doesn’t have to make his team play any games at the site, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com reports.

According to La Canfora, the city could present a stadium deal that would make moving difficult for the Rams. But Kroenke could counter that maneuver by continuing to play in the Edward Jones Dome and address the situation year by year while waiting for another market to open up rather than entering into a long-term commitment with a new St. Louis stadium.

Had certain NFL protocols not been in place, Kroenke would have already moved the Rams to Los Angeles this year, per La Canfora. But many in the league doubt the Rams owner would go into Al Davis mode and move his team anyway with a state-of-the-art structure ready.

Here are some other items from the league.

• Although he hasn’t been given a tryout since the video of his domestic assault surfaced, Ray Rice now has strong support from the league, which could expedite the former Ravens Pro Bowler’s potential comeback, La Canfora reports. Should a team eventually give Rice a tryout, NFL VP of football operations Troy Vincent would indicate the league’s stance to that team. While unable to make pitches on behalf of Rice, Vincent and other representatives in the league office have been impressed with Rice’s community-based work since the incident.
• Earlier today, we heard the Giants would meet with Jason Pierre-Paul on Tuesday to re-assess his hand injuries. Since JPP is a free agent having not signed the franchise tender, such a summit would be the last the Giants could have with the sixth-year defensive end due to league rules, reports Tom Rock of Newsday. The Giants would be able to sign Pierre-Paul at a later date but couldn’t re-evaluate his injury again after Tuesday since free agents can only make two in-person visits to the same team’s facility. Rock reports the Giants hope to have Pierre-Paul, who will play for far less than the $14.8MM franchise tag that was initially proposed in March, back for the final four games of the regular season, though some in the organization are skeptical he’ll play this year.
• With the Nov. 3 trade deadline just more than two weeks away, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk examines the types of teams that will be ready to sell assets, tabbing first-year coach-led organizations like the Bears, led by a new coach and GM, being more inclined to deal than the Lions, who have Jim Caldwell in his second season and GM Martin Mayhew in his seventh.