Within this week’s installment of his Monday Morning Quarterback column, Peter King notes that he spoke to eight high-ranking team officials – either an owner or someone with knowledge of the owner’s thinking – about the current status of commissioner Roger Goodell. As King writes, a number of points were conveyed frequently in those discussions, so we’ll round up the highlights right here:
- While there is currently no movement to remove Goodell from his position, owners are curious to see the results of Robert Mueller‘s investigation into how the league handled the Ray Rice situation. If Goodell lied about the Rice video, he’ll be in “serious trouble,” and even if Mueller finds that the commissioner wasn’t as an top of the investigation as he should have been, he may be in hot water as well.
- Most owners are confident that Mueller’s report will be “far-reaching and legitimate,” though one owner acknowledged that it was probably a mistake to appoint an investigator whose firm has ties to the NFL.
- One owner can envision a scenario in which Goodell survives this season, but may be in trouble in the long-term if the NFL brand has taken a significant hit.
- Many owners that spoke to King want Goodell to give up some authority in discipline cases — they’d rather see him focusing more on league matters and growing and improving the game.
- Owners also expressed concern that Goodell occasionally plays favorites, and that he spends too much time “going down a rabbit hole of unending controversy on an issue the league should have had buttoned up years ago,” as King writes.