Larry Fitzgerald has a simple solution to NFL's confusing catch rule

The NFL's competition committee will meet next week to discuss, among other things, a possible new automatic-ejection rule.Indianapolis Colts Jerseys Sale One thing that won't be on the table: Clarifying what exactly constitutes a catch, a task that seems simple enough except that arcane rules have made it a near-impossible task.

It all started in 2011, with the "Calvin Johnson rule," a phrase we all became familiar with when what appeared like an obvious touchdown reception was instead ruled an incompletion because Johnson didn't "complete the process" of making a catch.

We saw the rule invoked during the 2014 playoffs with Dez Bryant and the Cowboys, and several times in 2015, including Tyler Eifert's touchdown's that wasn't, and Golden Tate's "wait, that's a touchdown?!" grab in the end zone.

"I thought I understood the rule," Johnson, now retired, said in October. "I don't think anybody does now."

But Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald wants to change that. In an interview with TheMMQB.com, the future Hall of Famer aims to simplify something that has become unwieldy and convoluted.

Days before Super Bowl 50, commissioner Roger Goodell suggested that players committing two personal fouls in a game be subject to automatic ejection. Now, according to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport, the leagu's competition committee is expected to pass the rule Goodell put forth -- but with caveats.

Specifically: All personal fouls aren't created equally. For example, in the first half of the Super Bowl, Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib was flagged for two personal fouls, including a blatant facemask.

Were the infractions enough to kick him out of the game? No, of course not. But Goodell wants to guard against what happened during the regular season when Odell Beckham Jr. lost his mind when facing Josh Norman.

Neither player was ejected -- though everyone agrees Beckham should have been tossed. Days later, the NFL suspended Beckham for one game.

So what's egregious enough to get a player ejected? According to Rapoport, fewer than five penalties make the list. And ProFootballTalk reports that two categories are being considered.

The first category would consist of verbal abuse, taunting, and throwing a punch or a kick. The second category would be broader, with hits on defenseless players, impermissible use of the helmet, crown-of-helmet violations, roughing the passer, late hits, striking, kneeing, and kicking.

"I believe that the league should pursue a policy where if there are two personal fouls in a game, there's an automatic ejection of the player," Goodell said in his original remarks on Feb. 5. "I believe that's consistent with what we believe are the safety issues, but I also believe it's consistent with what we believe are the standards of sportsmanship that we've emphasized. We should take that out of the hands of the officials when it gets to that point. They'll obviously have to throw the flag, but when they do, we'll look to see if we can reach an agreement on the conditions of which they'd be ejected....

"We'll discuss it further with the player's association in February at the combine, as well as the membership in March. But I've recommended already to the competition committee to at least consider."

At the time, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora wrote that the proposal "isn't going over real well with" the NFLPA. And after La Canfora spoke with several players about the idea, "no one seemed to believe this was actually a solution to the problem of head, neck and spine injuries in the NFL."

Whatever the union and its players think, once the competition committee makes a formal recommendation, 24 of 32 owners would need to be on board to make it a reality.