The NFL added another player safety rule at last week’s owners meetings, and the response from players went about as expected.

“Wow! NFL new targeting rule looks like a disaster waiting to happen!’’ tweeted former Raiders receiver Tim Brown.

“It’s ridiculous,’’ 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman told USA Today.

“I don’t know how you’re going to play the game,’’ Redskins cornerback Josh Norman said in the same article.

The new rule makes it illegal for any player to lower his head and initiate contact with his helmet. And the rule is universal, applying to both offensive and defensive players and anywhere on the field. It’s an expansion of the previous “crown of the helmet rule’’ instituted in 2013, in which leading with the helmet was mostly outlawed but still permissible inside the tackle box.

The penalty now is an automatic 15 yards, and a possible ejection.

“For us, this is a pretty significant change,’’ Falcons president Rich McKay, the chairman of the competition committee, said last week. “This is not situational protection. In this, we’re basically getting to a technique that is just too dangerous for both the player doing it and the player that’s getting hit.’’

There’s no question that subjective enforcement of the rule will create controversy, and could affect the outcomes of games. And players are understandably upset about the new rule — they are the ones who will be penalized, ejected, and fined, not the coaches, general managers, or owners.

But we’ve also heard this response before, in 2013 with the addition of the crown of the helmet rule:

“Last time I checked, football was a contact sport,’’ former Bears running back Matt Forte tweeted.

“Sounds like it’s been made up by people who have never played the game of football,’’ former Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith said.

And there was a similar response in 2011, when the NFL instituted more protections for defenseless players:

“I’m absolutely sure now after this latest change that the people making the rules at the NFL are idiots,’’ said James Harrison, then with the Steelers.

But with each rule addition, defensive players have adjusted, the product on the field wasn’t noticeably affected, and we all continue to watch.

From the NFL’s perspective, what is worse for TV ratings and the future of the game: Having a few extra penalties and ejections that could cause controversies, or seeing players get laid out on the field by stomach-churning hits, such as what happened to Ryan Shazier and Davante Adams from a year ago?

The NFL saw a record 291 concussions last year, plus the hit on Shazier that has prevented him from walking since. The new rule is part of a “call to action,’’ according to NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills, and owners and coaches agreed unanimously that safety improvements are vital to the long-term success of the game.

“Hearing the head coaches come out so strongly that our game is under siege, parents are afraid to have their kids play football,’’ Packers president Mark Murphy, also on the competition committee, told reporters. “So we need to take some pretty dramatic steps to really make a difference in the game.’’

The NFL still has much to work out with the new helmet rule. The rule, in fact, wasn’t even on the initial agenda entering last week’s meetings, and was drawn up and approved rather hastily.

The NFL will invite coaches to New York over the next two months to work through the specific language and enforcement of hits that will be penalized, and those that will be worthy of ejection. The league hopes to finalize the language of the rule before the next round of owners meetings May 21-23.

The NFL will then send representatives to all 32 teams during spring practices to teach the new rules and emphasize the hits that are and are not acceptable.

Among the topics that must be hashed out between now and then — will the NFL use instant replay to enforce the rule? This gets director of officiating Al Riveron and the league office involved in ejection decisions.

“There is a strong sense, I think, that if you’re going to eject, you need to have replay,’’ Murphy said. “If you’re going to take somebody off the field, it needs to be followed up with replay.’’

Defensive players are rightly nervous about the new rule, but they should take a wait-and-see approach. The NFL didn’t share data about how many hits from last year would now be called penalties, but Murphy said that the competition committee only found five instances of a hit from last year that would warrant an ejection under the new rule.

And while defensive players may bear the brunt of this rule, offensive players will certainly be affected as well. Physical running backs like Marshawn Lynch will have to come up with a new way to barrel through defenders.

And even Tom Brady might have to change. One of his patented career moves is lowering his head and ramming his way forward for a first down in short-yardage situations, converting 126 of 139 on third and fourth down in his career (90.6 percent). It is unclear whether that play is now illegal.

But while the new rule may spark controversies, increase penalties, and drag out games, there’s no question that removing helmet hits from the game is in everyone’s best interest. And if recent history is a guide, the impact on the field won’t be too severe.

GATHER AROUND

Other news from owners meetings

A few other highlights from four days at the owners meetings in Orlando:

■ The so-called “Josh McDaniels Rule’’ got voted down, and the biggest critic apparently was Bill Belichick. The rule would have allowed teams to finalize a contract with a coach while his current team was still in the playoffs, and Belichick took to the floor three times to convince everyone in the room that the rule was “[expletive],’’ according to one owner.

Belichick argued, successfully, that coaches shouldn’t be allowed to be under contract to two teams at once, and that the rule would disproportionately affect the Patriots, whose coaches are annually among the top candidates.

■ Interestingly, Colts GM Chris Ballard was also against the “McDaniels Rule.’’

“When you’re a playoff team, you’re trying to eliminate all the distractions that you can,’’ Ballard said, via the Indianapolis Star. “We have rules in place for a reason. I think they’re good rules. It gives you a chance to interview and then, after the season, whatever happens, happens. In our case, he changed his mind and we moved on.’’

■ The Rams have made an expensive overhaul to their defense, adding some interesting personalities in the process. They traded for disgruntled cornerback Marcus Peters before free agency began, traded for $11 million cornerback Aqib Talib in March, then added feisty defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh last Tuesday for $14 million.

This is one scary defense. Suh and fellow defensive tackle Aaron Donald are now the most unblockable duo in the NFL. Peters and Talib are both excellent, physical cornerbacks. And Wade Phillips has proven time and again that he is one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL.

The personalities and egos might be tough to keep in check. But the Rams are in a unique position to load up and go for it. Quarterback Jared Goff still has two years left on his rookie contract, with cap numbers of $7.6 million and $8.9 million. With most teams spending $18 million to $25 million of cap space per year at quarterback, the Rams have money to beef up the rest of the roster.

■ Great quote from 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan on Jimmy Garoppolo, via NBC Sports Bay Area: “He couldn’t learn at all last year. It was just a crash course and it was just enough to try to get him to Sunday. Now, we can take our time, teach him the formations from the beginning, so he actually knows where everybody is and how we move everybody around.’’

That quote puts Garoppolo’s impressive play into even better perspective, and should give nightmares to defensive coordinators.

■ Whom did Eagles owner and Newton native Jeffrey Lurie run into while on vacation in the Bahamas shortly after his team’s Super Bowl win over the Patriots? Tom Brady, of course, who couldn’t have been more gracious in defeat.

■ Stan Kroenke’s massive stadium project in Los Angeles will set a new bar for stadium decadence. The full cost of the project is now estimated at $5 billion. It includes a new stadium for the Rams and Chargers, a new home for NFL Network and other NFL media properties, a 6,000-seat amphitheater, and office and retail space.

The stadium is set to open in 2020, with the Patriots scheduled to play road games against both the Rams and Chargers that year.

ETC.

Consider kickoffs to be endangered

Another significant player safety update took place at the owners meetings, one that won’t make Bill Belichick happy.

Kickoffs remain the most dangerous play in football, and unless the NFL can come up with significant reform, the play might be taken out of the game in the next couple of years.

The NFL cut down on the number of kickoff returns by about 60 percent thanks to a rule change that moved the touchback from the 20 to the 25-yard line.

But Packers president Mark Murphy, a member of the competition committee, said that players are still “five times as likely to suffer a concussion’’ on a kickoff than on a passing or running play. Even more frustrating, Murphy said, is the fact that a few players suffered concussions on touchbacks last season.

“We’ve reduced the number of returns, but we haven’t really done anything to make the play safer,’’ Murphy said. “We’re going to bring together head coaches and special teams coaches, and really take a look at the kickoff with a sense that if you don’t make changes to make it safer, we’re going to do away with it.

“It’s that serious. It’s by far the most dangerous play in the game.’’

And the punt play isn’t far behind.

“The punt is the second-most dangerous play,’’ Murphy said. “The punt is kind of a dangerous play because anything can happen, and the players are all over the field. We always thought it was much safer than the kickoff, but recent history hasn’t shown that.’’

Jackson is losing traction

Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson was the target of mudslinging last week, with some scouts and media criticizing him for not running the 40 at his Pro Day, and a report emerging that he scored a 13 on the Wonderlic.

But there definitely appear to be some issues with how Jackson is handling the pre-draft process. He didn’t hire an agent, and is using his mother as the front person in his pre-draft process. We wrote on March 10 that, via a league source, “[Jackson] didn’t do well in interviews and white-board work at the Combine. An agent can help put the right people around a young player,’’ and it appears more of that is coming to roost.

While watching Jackson’s Pro Day on Thursday, NFL Network’s Mike Mayock said several teams have told him they are having trouble setting up meetings with Jackson. “Not just work out, but appointments to meet with him, to put him up on the board, to work him out, to have dinner with him,’’ he said. “His mom has obviously his best interest at heart, but you’re doing the kid a disservice if NFL coaches and general managers are calling and you can’t even get an appointment set up.’’

Jackson doesn’t necessarily need an agent, but he needs a stronger inner circle. Jacoby Brissett signed an above-slot contract without an agent in 2016, but he had Bill Parcells, former player Abe Elam, and NFL Players Association contracts expert Mark Levin advising him.

Possible Patriots additions?

Belichick is holding off on making announcements on his coaching staff for 2018, but the Patriots could add two former college head coaches.

Former Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema, fired last year, has been spotted at Pro Days wearing Patriots gear, and last week put his home on the market. Bielema has a $12 million buyout to be paid through 2020, and since it has offsets, the Patriots can add him for peanuts.

Former Arizona State coach Todd Graham, fired after this past season, also might be headed to Foxborough. Graham was part of Belichick’s crew at the NFL Combine, per ArizonaSports.com, and Graham’s wife posted on Facebook last week about sending out change of address cards to her friends. Graham has a $12.3 million buyout with no offsets.

Both Bielema and Graham are likelier to be consultants than full-time coaches for the Patriots, as they are expected to go for college head coaching jobs next year. But both have defensive backgrounds and could help guide Brian Flores, who is expected to serve as the Patriots’ new defensive coordinator this year, though without the title.

Extra points

We know the obvious teams that will be looking for a quarterback in the draft — the Browns, Bills, Jets, Broncos, and Cardinals. But the Pat Mahomes situation from last year reminds us that several teams that don’t appear to need a quarterback could pounce on one of the top prospects. The Chiefs had Alex Smith and were coming off a division title, but traded a future first-round pick to move up and snag Mahomes. They stashed him on the bench for a year, but now have traded Smith and handed the offense to Mahomes. So don’t discount a number of teams with aging or shaky quarterback situations from making a big run at a quarterback. That could include the Giants, Patriots, Steelers, Saints, Dolphins, Ravens, and Chargers . . . The NFL’s 2018 schedule should be announced in the next three weeks or so. The Patriots will likely be on the road in Week 2, with Ed Sheeran concerts scheduled for that weekend at Gillette . . . As of Friday afternoon, the Patriots had 70 players under contract (90 is the offseason maximum), and $7,441,358 of cap space, per the NFLPA . . . Playing football in Chestnut Hill this fall as part of Boston College’s 2018 recruiting class: offensive tackle Tyler Vrabel, son of Mike Vrabel, and kicker John Tessitore, son of new “Monday Night Football’’ play-by-play man Joe Tessitore.

Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin. Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.