Report: Jerry Richardson Leading Effort to Save Goodell?
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson has been leading an effort to get other NFL owners to sign a letter of support for embattled commissioner Roger Goodell.
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Several owners have come out in support of Roger Goodell already. These include verbal statements from Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, and John Mara of the New York Giants. Mara is one of two owners facilitating the Mueller investigation of the League’s handling of the Ray Rice situation. The Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Washington Redskins ownership groups have submitted written statements of support.
This shows either how much or how little trouble Goodell might be in. The NFL commissioner is hired by the owners of the League. There is a segment of owners that support what Goodell has done so far, because they have made a lot of money and like that Goodell takes the onus of these difficult decisions. If this faction was more confident about how things were to turn out, they would not see a reason to act.
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On the other hand they may think they can get everybody on board such a document. As Florio pointed out, former Raiders owner Al Davis is dead. He may have been the only one willing to criticize the handling of these affairs.
Sir Thomas More once insisted that silence was a legitimate position to have in a controversial situation. There are a lot of owners staying quiet right now. Until the Mueller investigation is complete, many owners will maintain this ‘wait-and-see’ approach.
One last thing that Florio mentioned was the League actually calling owners to secure support. That was denied by the League office later. While Richardson leading an effort to save Goodell is fine, but the NFL front office doing it would be dubious.