Roger Goodell held his yearly Super Bowl press conference Friday, and in some ways it was less celebratory than usual. There were golden Super Bowl 50 logos, sure, and references to the nostalgia that has surrounded this week.

But after Goodell took a deep breath to get into his discussion of the year he spoke first of player safety, calling it his top priority. He talked about the league’s dedication to funding medical research and developing technology that would mitigate the risk players face. These are nobel goals.

But there are also four simple things he could make happen before next season that would better ensure players stay safe and have the long, fulfilling life he wants them to have:

Expand the rosters

(Bob Donnan, USA TODAY Sports)

NFL teams are allowed to have 53 players on their active roster, plus a small practice squad. There’s no reason — other than the owners’ bottom line — for that number not to be 65 or 70 or more (consider Division I college teams have 85 scholarship players and dozens of walk ons). There’s plenty of available talent.

NFL teams should be allowed to stockpile younger players and develop them so that they have players ready to step in to fill in for injured starters. How many times during a season do you hear of a team “signing somebody off the street“? Two key players in Carolina’s secondary spent most of the season out of the league, and they’ve done well enough to get the team to the Super Bowl.

If coaches were able to have more players on the roster and in practice and meetings everyday, they’d have more confidence in backups and there would be less pressure for starters to return from injury early.

Guarantee contracts

(Getty Images)

Goodell would sit the owners down and tell them that contracts need to be simplified, and that the owners — and therefore the league — need to assume more of the risk. When you hear that an NBA player signed a $50 million deal, that player is going to make $50 million. That’s never the case with an NFL players, who can often be discarded with only a fraction of what they were supposed to make.

San Francisco signed Colin Kaepernick to a $126-million six-year deal, but only $13 million of that is fully guaranteed. Yes, the Niners owe him $61 million if he’s forced out of the league by injury but that covers only something truly catastrophic and career-ending. It does nothing to prevent him from trying to conceal pain or rush back from something considered minor. He needs to stay in the team’s good graces or risk being cut for “performance reasons.” He did apparently spend part of the year trying to play through injury (and his relationship with the front office has grown contentious.)

The players need more power. They need to know that if  a team decides they aren’t tough enough, or have become too injury-prone, there’s not an easy out.

Let them smoke marijuana

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Goodell said Friday that the league’s doctors still oppose the use of marijuana, either recreationally or medically, for players.

This is a drug that is now legal in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Washington, D.C. In many other places — San Francisco included — it is a minor infraction akin to jaywalking. It is prescribed by doctors for pain management — in part because it is less addictive and damaging than some traditional pain meds — in nine other states.

The NFL’s stance is nonsensical. There are plenty of doctors who consider the risk of smoking marijuana to be minimal compared to problems caused by alcohol or opioids.

Besides: Players now appear to be smoking synthetic marijuana — commonly called spice — and the effects are horrifying.

Shorten the preseason and add an additional bye week

Two pre-season games would be more than enough. Start the season a week earlier and add an extra bye week. Give the players more time to rest during a long, arduous season.