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Jerry Jones wants Roger Goodell out, and he has a fascinating replacement in mind | Pro Football Weekly
Jerry Jones wants Roger Goodell out, and he has a fascinating replacement in mind
Would Cowboys owner, Jones, recommend a certain Hall of Fame GM to replace Goodell?
Follow @Hub_Arkush
By Hub Arkush - harkush@profootballweekly.com
Published: Nov. 7, 2017 — 9:44 a.m.
Updated: Nov. 7, 2017 — 9:48 a.m.
It has been fairly well documented that the National Football League’s Compensation Committee, chaired by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, has been working for some time now on an extension to the contract of Roger Goodell that expires in 2019.
A deal that would take Goodell at least through 2021 and the next Collective Bargaining Agreement was assumed to be a done deal requiring only a rubber stamp until reports surfaced last spring that a faction of owners led by Dallas’ Jerry Jones felt that Goodell might be being overpaid.
The way we hear it, Goodell has averaged about $20 million a year in compensation since getting the commissioner job in 2006 – including a season or two where he’s earned between $35-45 million. Great work if you can get it.
If you’ve been following the story, you also know that in recent weeks the delays in getting Goodell’s contract done have become more public leading up to a conference call the last week in October that included 17 owners.
What you may not know, however, is that according to our sources the debate is no longer about how much money Goodell makes, it’s about Jerry Jones wanting Goodell out altogether, and rather than it being a financial matter, it’s become a very personal vendetta with Jones irate about how Goodell has handled the Ezekiel Elliott domestic abuse allegations and the resulting suspension now making its way through the courts and dominating most of the coverage surrounding Jones’ Cowboys.
Jones is also extremely unhappy about Goodell’s refusal to back him in immediately demanding that all NFL players stand for the national anthem.
Certainly, Goodell is mired in a debilitating losing streak beginning with the Ray Rice and Greg Hardy cases – with Hardy ironically ending up one of Jerry’s boys as well – and extending through Deflategate, NFL relocation to Los Angeles now going very badly for the Chargers – which ironically was driven by Jones, not Goodell — the Elliott case and now the Colin Kaepernick/national anthem crisis.
While we hear that not all of the 16 other owners on the conference call are yet ready to side with Jones in replacing Goodell, all are apparently unhappy with the handling of at least one or more of those issues.
With the most recent news that TV ratings continue to lag and at least one of the league’s biggest sponsors, Papa John’s Pizza, has begun to complain publicly – all of which clearly is not solely Goodell’s fault any more than it is his 32 bosses – it has become easy for Jones to at least get fellow owners’ ears and recruit them to his way of thinking.
It is important to note that any move to actually get Goodell fired before the end of his contract – and to be clear we are not reporting Jones is there yet – would require the votes of at least 24 owners, so that appears to be highly unlikely.
On the other hand, an extension for Goodell will also require 24 votes, so it seems quite likely Jones has the votes to block a new deal for Goodell if that is the direction he chooses to go in.
One of the ultimate ironies of all this is that Jones had always been one of Goodell’s strongest backers, mainly on the strength of the huge increases in league revenues and franchise values that have occurred on Goodell’s watch to date up until the late fall of 2016, when Jones began to become frustrated with the league office’s refusal to put an end to its Elliott investigation.
According to our sources, Jones' initial concerns voiced about Goodell’s compensation was an attempt to begin to create some leverage against the commish to convince him to end the Elliott issue, and when Goodell instead responded with the six-game suspension of Elliott, Jones reportedly went through the roof.
Where all of this really got some legs was with a report we heard from two different sources late last week that Jones is even thinking about a replacement for Goodell — Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian.
We have no knowledge of any contact between Jones and Polian or if Polian is even aware he might be on Jones’ radar, only that Jones has indicated to confidants he thinks Polian could be an excellent choice should Goodell be replaced.
Jerry Jones wants Roger Goodell out, and he has a fascinating replacement in mind
Would Cowboys owner, Jones, recommend a certain Hall of Fame GM to replace Goodell?
Follow @Hub_Arkush
By Hub Arkush - harkush@profootballweekly.com
Published: Nov. 7, 2017 — 9:44 a.m.
Updated: Nov. 7, 2017 — 9:48 a.m.
It has been fairly well documented that the National Football League’s Compensation Committee, chaired by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, has been working for some time now on an extension to the contract of Roger Goodell that expires in 2019.
A deal that would take Goodell at least through 2021 and the next Collective Bargaining Agreement was assumed to be a done deal requiring only a rubber stamp until reports surfaced last spring that a faction of owners led by Dallas’ Jerry Jones felt that Goodell might be being overpaid.
The way we hear it, Goodell has averaged about $20 million a year in compensation since getting the commissioner job in 2006 – including a season or two where he’s earned between $35-45 million. Great work if you can get it.
If you’ve been following the story, you also know that in recent weeks the delays in getting Goodell’s contract done have become more public leading up to a conference call the last week in October that included 17 owners.
What you may not know, however, is that according to our sources the debate is no longer about how much money Goodell makes, it’s about Jerry Jones wanting Goodell out altogether, and rather than it being a financial matter, it’s become a very personal vendetta with Jones irate about how Goodell has handled the Ezekiel Elliott domestic abuse allegations and the resulting suspension now making its way through the courts and dominating most of the coverage surrounding Jones’ Cowboys.
Jones is also extremely unhappy about Goodell’s refusal to back him in immediately demanding that all NFL players stand for the national anthem.
Certainly, Goodell is mired in a debilitating losing streak beginning with the Ray Rice and Greg Hardy cases – with Hardy ironically ending up one of Jerry’s boys as well – and extending through Deflategate, NFL relocation to Los Angeles now going very badly for the Chargers – which ironically was driven by Jones, not Goodell — the Elliott case and now the Colin Kaepernick/national anthem crisis.
While we hear that not all of the 16 other owners on the conference call are yet ready to side with Jones in replacing Goodell, all are apparently unhappy with the handling of at least one or more of those issues.
With the most recent news that TV ratings continue to lag and at least one of the league’s biggest sponsors, Papa John’s Pizza, has begun to complain publicly – all of which clearly is not solely Goodell’s fault any more than it is his 32 bosses – it has become easy for Jones to at least get fellow owners’ ears and recruit them to his way of thinking.
It is important to note that any move to actually get Goodell fired before the end of his contract – and to be clear we are not reporting Jones is there yet – would require the votes of at least 24 owners, so that appears to be highly unlikely.
On the other hand, an extension for Goodell will also require 24 votes, so it seems quite likely Jones has the votes to block a new deal for Goodell if that is the direction he chooses to go in.
One of the ultimate ironies of all this is that Jones had always been one of Goodell’s strongest backers, mainly on the strength of the huge increases in league revenues and franchise values that have occurred on Goodell’s watch to date up until the late fall of 2016, when Jones began to become frustrated with the league office’s refusal to put an end to its Elliott investigation.
According to our sources, Jones' initial concerns voiced about Goodell’s compensation was an attempt to begin to create some leverage against the commish to convince him to end the Elliott issue, and when Goodell instead responded with the six-game suspension of Elliott, Jones reportedly went through the roof.
Where all of this really got some legs was with a report we heard from two different sources late last week that Jones is even thinking about a replacement for Goodell — Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian.
We have no knowledge of any contact between Jones and Polian or if Polian is even aware he might be on Jones’ radar, only that Jones has indicated to confidants he thinks Polian could be an excellent choice should Goodell be replaced.
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