The league may be ready to remove commissioner Roger Goodell from the position of handing out player discipline.
The past few seasons haven’t gone all that well for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when it comes to his handling of player discipline. After handing down penalties to Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson for off field criminal issues (and Tom Brady for the now infamous “DeflateGate” incident), Goodell and the league watched as those decisions were all reversed by courts or a neutral arbitrator.
The league’s players believe they can’t get a fair deal from the man who hands down the punishments…and then is the same person who hears the appeals to those punishments. At the same time, there are some within the league who don’t like the public relations hit the NFL has taken from having Goodell be the judge, jury and executioner when it comes to player discipline.
Now, it seems the discussion has been put on the table between the league and its players association about a change when it comes to how player discipline is handled. NFLPA executive director De Smith says the sides are close to working out a deal that would remove Goodell from handling any punishment for players regarding off-field issues:
"“We’ve been talking about changes to the personal conduct policy since October and have traded proposals,” said Smith. “We looked at the league’s proposal for neutral arbitration. There is a common ground for us to get something done.”"
While Goodell hasn’t publicly said he would give up these duties, the commish has made comments in the past about how being the one handling all discipline matters can be time consuming considering his other job requirements. It’s unknown whether discipline duties would be handed over to one single person or some kind of panel and if Goodell would still have a say in any appeals to their decisions.
The league, in response to removing duties from their boss, may want the NFLPA to extend the current collective bargaining agreement past its current 2020 expiration date…something the players wouldn’t be too happy about considering the continuously growing popularity (translation: more $$$) of the sport.
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