Representation of entity references in odata.metadata annotation

The proposed representation of an entity reference in section 4.4.1 of the JSON Format includes a navigation property in the path. Entity references can also be taken directly from entities in entity sets, and therefore not have a navigation property to be used, but I also believe that the referenced entity, or set thereof, was the result of referring to a navigation property that the result still would simply be an entity reference, or a set thereof, and that therefore the navigation property path is not required (read: has no particular function) in identifying the type of entity reference.
My proposal would be to remove the navigation property in this context.