Latest On NFL’s Potential Return To LA
A return to Los Angeles in 2016 is looking likelier than ever for the NFL. In a 48-page report distributed Saturday to the league’s 32 teams, commissioner Roger Goodell criticizes the respective stadium proposals in St. Louis, Oakland and San Diego, referring to them as “unsatisfactory and inadequate,” according to the LA Times’ Sam Farmer and Nathan Fenno. Further, in the opinion of Goodell, each market had “ample opportunity but did not develop their proposals sufficiently to ensure the retention of its NFL team.” The Rams, Raiders and Chargers agree, having applied for LA relocation earlier this week.
Last month, the city of St. Louis approved financing on a plan to construct a $1.1 billion riverfront stadium. That proposal 
includes $300MM from the league, whose policy is to spend a maximum of $200MM on stadiums. Goodell subsequently called the notion of using $300MM of the league’s money “fundamentally inconsistent with the NFL’s program of stadium financing.” The Rams, for their part, said in their application to move that no NFL team would accept the St. Louis deal, Farmer and Fenno write.
Oakland has not made a formal stadium proposal, on the other hand, while San Diego – like St. Louis – has proposed a $1.1 billion stadium. At $200MM in funding from the NFL, the potential San Diego stadium doesn’t exceed the league’s maximum. The problem is that a public vote to OK $350MM of city funding isn’t scheduled until June. That clearly won’t work, as league owners will gather next week in Houston – Jan. 12-13 – to vote on possible relocation.
The Raiders and Chargers have a proposal to share a stadium in Carson, and the Rams want their own facility in Inglewood. In order for any of the teams to move, they’ll need 24 approval votes from league ownership. Goodell’s report indicates LA is capable of supporting two teams, which ostensibly helps both the Chargers and Raiders. However, the Cowboys have proposed a measure for ownership vote that would see the Chargers head to Inglewood with the Rams instead of Carson with the Raiders, CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reports (Twitter link). La Canfora adds (on Twitter) that many owners would prefer to see the Rams and Chargers as the two LA-bound teams. However, as Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal points out (via Twitter), Chargers owner Dean Spanos rejected the idea of partnering with Rams owner Stan Kroenke in a letter to the LA committee last month. At least for now, Spanos seems committed to teaming with the Raiders’ Mark Davis.
For any potential LA scenario to come to fruition, all three clubs must sign final economic term sheets for relocation by Monday, per La Canfora (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Extra Points: Coaches, Officials, Hackenberg
As several coaches are set for their final games guiding their respective teams, SI.com’s Greg Bedard tabs suitable successors, the most interesting being a potential Nick Saban return to the NFL as Chuck Pagano‘s replacement with the Colts.
Andrew Luck‘s presence and Indianapolis’ small-town feel would be draws for the Alabama architect, per Bedard, while Jim Irsay‘s visible stature wouldn’t.
Bedard also lists several retreads as viable second-chance options for franchises, connecting Josh McDaniels with the Giants, Todd Haley with the Dolphins and current UCLA coach Jim Mora with the 49ers.
McDaniels-to-New York would be an interesting fit, given Eli Manning‘s forward strides in second-year offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo‘s offense and the Patriots current OC’s play-calling penchant.
Here are some other notes from around the league with Week 15 set to commence.
- Christian Hackenberg‘s disappointing season ordinarily may have relegated the Penn State quarterback to the second round, should the junior decide to declare for the draft. But sources told ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen that the 20-year-old Hackenberg, who had his best season as a freshman in 2013 under Bill O’Brien, will have a floor of wherever the Texans select in the first round. Houston’s first-round spot could drop into the low 20s if the Texans make the playoffs or rise toward the top 10 if the team falters.
- The NFL’s change in postseason officiating procedure, which will give officials more freedom to confer with the league, could have a negative impact, former head of officiating Mike Pereira tells Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. “Basically, what it looks like is that the league office is making decisions on who possibly wins or loses the game,” Pereira said. “You could go back to the old theory of the conspiracy of the Raiders, that the league didn’t like [former owner] Al Davis and all the stuff that went along with it. All of a sudden, decisions that were being made on the field or in the stadium, all of a sudden are being made in the league office.” The new policy is designed to allow the league to help coordinate with officials on clock operation, penalty yardage and administrative issues.
- The NFLPA sent a proposal to the league last month calling for neutral arbitration in personal conduct appellate hearings, Tom Pelissero of USA Today reports. Under this proposal, Roger Goodell would remain responsible for levying initial rulings, as he’s permitted to do under Article 46 of the CBA, but a three-person panel would decide the players’ ultimate punishment during the appeals process. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said the league has been discussing solutions along this line for months, although the league has yet to respond to this proposal.
Extra Points: Goodell, Los Angeles, Draft
The NFL and NFL Players Associations are engaged in negotiations regarding commissioner Roger Goodell‘s role in player discipline, and according to NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, the two sides are having “the right conversations,” writes Mark Maske of the Washington Post. While there’s been some speculation that resolving Goodell’s involvement in the player-discipline process might have to wait until the next CBA extension, both sides have noted that modifications could be made before that.
“There’s no need for other issues,” Smith said. “We’ve resolved drug policy as a stand-alone issue. We cut side letters to the collective bargaining agreement every year that are issues. At the end of the day, I think that this is an important issue for both sides. And I don’t think either the players or the owners really want to be talking about commissioner discipline during the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl. I don’t think that’s good for our business. I’m sure they don’t think it’s good for our business.”
Let’s round up a few more odds and ends from around the NFL…
- Having long been on top of the Los Angeles relocation rumors swirling around a trio of NFL teams, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times takes a step back to evaluate where the situation stands now, using a Q&A format to address the most frequently-asked questions about the possibility of the Rams, Chargers, or Raiders moving to L.A.
- Field Yates of ESPN.com examines a few teams that might like to have do-overs on big offseason transactions, noting that neither the Eagles nor the Rams have made out particularly well in their Sam Bradford/Nick Foles swap. Yates also identifies the Seahawks‘ acquisition of Jimmy Graham and the Cowboys‘ plan to replace DeMarco Murray as moves that haven’t worked out as planned.
- There are at least 10 NFL teams – and probably more – that will consider drafting a quarterback in the spring of 2016, according to Mike Sando and Mel Kiper of ESPN.com, who take a look at the clubs in need of QBs, along with a few of the top college options available to them.
- Alabama already had two defensive linemen – A’Shawn Robinson and Jarran Reed – projected as potential first-round picks, and there are some in NFL circles that believe Jonathan Allen could make it three first-round defensive linemen for the Crimston Tide, writes Matt Zenitz of AL.com.
La Canfora’s Latest: Peyton, Bowe, Lovie
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports published a number of stories that are worth a read this morning, so let’s dive right in:
- The Broncos are off to a 2-0 start, but it has been a frustrating and heart-stopping couple of games, and things are not as rosy as the team’s record would indicate. Denver’s front office and coaching staff have been intent on establishing the running game in an effort to keep Peyton Manning upright and healthy and to prevent him from wearing down over the course of the season, as he did in 2014. Manning, meanwhile, would prefer to be in the shotgun and throwing as much as possible. As team and player search for some middle ground, there are differing opinions as to how the Broncos should handle their offense moving forward. Some scouts believe Manning is putting himself in danger as he tries to think and feel his way through Gary Kubiak‘s offense, and that it may be better to simply allow the future Hall-of-Famer to do what he does best. Others say that Manning himself is the problem, as his declining velocity, accuracy, and susceptibility to “phantom pressure” allow opposing teams to rush five players and deploy a single high safety in the defensive backfield. The problem has been worsened by the team’s poor offensive line play, and Denver’s next opponent, the Lions, is also likely to dial up a great deal of pressure on the quarterback. How the Broncos respond will go a long way in predicting their success for the remainder of the Manning era.
- Browns wide receiver Dwayne Bowe played and practiced very sparingly in the preseason, and when he finally did get an extended look in the team’s fourth preseason game against reserve defensive backs, he was unable to make much of a statement. Per La Canfora, there are some members of the Browns coaching staff that would like to move on from Bowe immediately, even though he has yet to play a regular season snap for his new club. However, as Bowe is owed $9MM in guaranteed salary over the next two seasons, Cleveland has little choice but to hang onto Bowe and see what he can do. As Mary Kay Cabot of The Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets, Bowe did have a good week of practice this week and is active for today’s matchup against Tennessee.
- Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith took over defensive play-calling duties this season after Tampa Bay’s defense floundered in 2014. However, his unit’s performance against the Titans last week was even worse than virtually anything he saw last season, and now Smith is under mounting pressure to at least deliver some reason for optimism moving forward. In 2014, the makeup of Smith’s coaching staff raised the eyebrows of other front offices in the league, as many believed that the group–which essentially operated without an offensive coordinator all season–lacked adequate NFL experience. Although the team has installed seasoned NFL coach Dirk Koetter as its offensive coordinator, skepticism regarding Smith’s staff remains. Smith, after all, took over play-calling duties from Leslie Frazier, a former head coach with a ton of coordinating experience, and as La Canfora writes, “it did not go unnoticed in coaching circles when esteemed defensive coach Rod Marinelli, one of Smith’s closest friends, opted to stay in Dallas as coordinator rather than join Smith’s staff in Tampa.” Although the team’s loss to Tennessee last week was just one game, it is fair to say that Smith’s club must start to make some strides if he wants to remain at the Tampa Bay helm in 2016 and beyond.
- League commissioner Roger Goodell recently said that he is open to altering the way the league handles the discipline and appeals process for off-field matters, and the NFLPA has submitted a proposal that sets forth such an alteration. The proposal, which was submitted when the union filed a grievance with the CBA arbitrator early this year in response to the league’s new domestic violence conduct policy, calls for the creation of a new appeal position, and it would also prevent the commissioner from handling an appeal himself or from choosing someone else to handle it for him. There is no timetable for when the grievance might be resolved, and there will, as always, be extensive negotiating involved in these proposed changes to the appellate process. However, as La Canfora writes, “the growing groundswell among owners to redirect Goodell from being so intimately involved in the process is almost certain to result in changes at some point.”
Extra Points: Goodell, Raiders, Mariota, Vaccaro
Although Roger Goodell‘s said he’s open to changing his role in the disciplinary process, the status quo won’t change for a while. Steelers owner Art Rooney II said any changes will be negotiated in the next collective bargaining agreement, which is up for renewal in 2021, and owners are in no rush to pursue what would be a complex fix, writes Tom Pelissero of USA Today.
“Look, I think more than likely we’re not talking months here. We’re most likely talking years,” Rooney told Pelissero. “I think there’s probably still a fair amount of time before both sides are willing to really roll up their sleeves and get something done.”
The NFLPA, however, responded to Rooney’s assertions of both sides having “informal discussions” on amending the personal conduct policy by saying the league has been unwilling to comply with the association’s requests to collectively bargain on the issue that’s become one of the key components of the modern NFL.
Should the two sides somehow agree to an extension on the CBA with new language on player discipline, that extension would be for a couple of years, Rooney told USA Today.
Here are some additional items affecting the league in Week 2.
- Following his stadium proposal that was widely panned, developer Floyd Kephart won’t be taking part in future proposals involving a new Raiders stadium in Oakland, according to the Bay Area News Group. Kephart’s exclusive negotiating agreement was not renewed by the city of Oakland, and CSNBayArea.com notes this should facilitate more direct dialogue between Oakland and the Raiders, who dismissed the financial basis for Kephart’s Coliseum City project.
- Aldon Smith should see work in the Raiders’ base packages soon after playing only on passing downs in Week 1, writes Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com. Smith played mostly at right defensive end in his 29 snaps last week, and Bair expects that to increase against the Ravens. With Jack Del Rio-led defenses reluctant to blitz, the onus will be on Smith and Khalil Mack to lead a four-man pressure package.
- With the Browns set to host the Titans on Sunday, Mike Pettine admits a personal interest in Marcus Mariota‘s career, according to the Northeast Ohio Media Group’s Tom Reed. The second-year Cleveland coach believes many around the league are secretly rooting against Mariota and his former coach at Oregon, Chip Kelly, to fail and preserve the superiority of pro-style systems. “(Mariota) is the kind of guy you root for from a personal standpoint,” Pettine said. “But I think the football purists who want it to be a true pro-style game are not going to cheer for a guy like him because that would only encourage teams to blow this up and bring in college coordinators.”
- The Saints want to expand Kenny Vaccaro‘s role to include covering slot receivers, Nick Underhill of TheAdvocate.com writes. Vaccaro played 156 downs in slot coverage in 2013 and 108 last season, per Underhill, and was utilized as an in-the-box player when New Orleans opted for single-high safety looks.”
Extra Points: Pats, Cofield, Raiders, Solomon
Another DeflateGate loose end was tied off earlier today, when the NFL announced that Patriots employees John Jastremski and Jim McNally have been reinstated from their suspensions. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links) notes, the NFL said the Pats “satisfied the league’s requirements” for the staffers’ returns, but Jastremski is prohibited from handling footballs and McNally is barred from handling equipment going forward.
Here’s more from around the NFL:
- Defensive tackle Barry Cofield, viewed by many NFL people as the best defensive free agent available, will likely sign with a contending team in October when he recovers from hip surgery, says Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link). Cole cites the Colts and Packers as a couple teams that would interest Cofield and that may have a need on the defensive line.
- The Raiders did not come close to signing safety Stevie Brown this week even though there’s a clear need at the position, Bill Williamson of ESPN.com writes.
- Browns outside linebacker Scott Solomon will miss four to six weeks with an ankle injury suffered early in the season opener, a source told ESPN’s Adam Caplan. The Browns had high hopes for Solomon, who made his mark after being signed to the practice squad in November. Cleveland will likely add an outside linebacker to replenish its depth.
- Eric Grubman, the NFL’s point man on Los Angeles, said this week that San Diego and St. Louis reps won’t get the opportunity to make presentations on their stadium plans at the league’s October owner meetings, according to Bernie Wilson of The Associated Press. Grubman suggested that another time and place would allow for a more in-depth presentation, since there’s already a “full agenda” for next month’s meetings.
- As Howard Belzer of The SportsXchange tweets, many NFL team owners want to have serious discussions at those October meetings about Roger Goodell’s disciplinary power, which is one reason why there isn’t room for stadium presentations. Steelers president Art Rooney II indicated this week that “informal discussions” on that issue have already begun, per Mark Maske of the Washington Post.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Patriots Notes: Deflategate, Brady, F. Jackson
Anyone who expected the Patriots-related drama to come to an end when Judge Richard Berman ruled in favor of Tom Brady and the NFLPA last week received a rude awakening today, as Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham of ESPN’s Outside the Lines published an extensive report on Deflategate and Spygate. The piece, which is worth reading, suggests that Roger Goodell and the NFL may have reacted so aggressively to the Deflategate allegations to compensate for what many team owners felt was an undercooked Spygate investigation.
In response to the OTL report, the Patriots issued a strongly-worded statement denying the additional Spygate allegations that were part of the story, as Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweets.
“This type of reporting over the past seven years has led to additional unfounded, unwarranted and, quite frankly, unbelievable allegations by former players, coaches and executives,” the Patriots’ statement read, in part. “None of which have ever been substantiated, but many of which continue to be propagated.”
Here’s more on the Pats:
- Brady made an appearance on WEEI in Boston today, admitting that “it’s been a tough, challenging several months.” While Brady didn’t drop any bombshells, he fielded a number of questions about Deflategate over the course of the conversation. The audio transcript of his comments can be found right here.
- In the wake of the NFL’s court loss last week, one report indicated that team owners would discuss changing Goodell’s role in the player disciplinary process. Appearing on Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio today, Goodell acknowledged that he’s “very open” to changing his role (link via The Associated Press). However, he’s still reluctant to give up final say.
- Within an hour of being released by the Bills, Fred Jackson received a call from the Patriots, as the veteran running back tells Tim Graham of The Buffalo News. Jackson also got a call from the Seahawks in that first hour, and ultimately signed with Seattle.
Owners To Discuss Changing Goodell’s Role in Disciplinary Process
Following the NFL’s latest defeat in court, the NFL’s team owners intend to discuss the possibility of changing commissioner Roger Goodell’s role in the player disciplinary process, several sources tell Mark Maske of the Washington Post.
According to Maske, there’s no guarantee that Goodell’s role will be altered as a result of these discussions, but it’s the first sign that Judge Richard Berman’s ruling on the DeflateGate case could have an impact beyond just getting Tom Brady back on the field for the Patriots.
A person familiar with “the league’s inner workings” tells Maske that it’s too soon to know whether there are enough owners in favor of changing Goodell’s role. If there are, it could result in the league engaging the NFL Players Association about possible modifications to the disciplinary process. The players’ union would like to see a neutral arbitrator hear disciplinary appeals, replacing Goodell in the process.
A timetable for the owners’ discussions has not yet been set, but the next formal meetings are scheduled for October.
Reactions, Notes On Tom Brady Decision
After Judge Richard Berman announced today that he has vacated Tom Brady‘s four-game suspension, the NFLPA and NFL each issued statements on the matter, with the league confirming that it will extend the legal battle by appealing Berman’s ruling. Now, Patriots owner Robert Kraft has released his own statement on the decision, via the Patriots’ website.
“As I have said during this process and throughout his Patriots career, Tom Brady is a classy person of the highest integrity,” Kraft said in the statement. “He represents everything that is great about this game and this league. Yet, with absolutely no evidence of any actions of wrongdoing by Tom in the Wells report, the lawyers at the league still insisted on imposing and defending unwarranted and unprecedented discipline. Judge Richard Berman understood this and we are greatly appreciative of his thoughtful decision that was delivered today. Now, we can return our focus to the game on the field.”
While Kraft may be eager to shift the focus to the action on the field, there are plenty of reactions, opinions, and leftover tidbits on today’s news to pass along, so let’s dive in and round up the latest….
- The NFL’s appeal of Judge Berman’s decision didn’t include a request to expedite the process, so it figures to drag on for a while, tweets Andrew Brandt of TheMMQB.com.
- In a conversation with CSN’s Jill Sorensen, NFLPA director DeMaurice Smith says that the union doesn’t “make the mistake of trusting the league,” and suggests that the Patriots probably wish they had a “do-over” after accepting the NFL’s sanctions against the franchise earlier this year without an appeal.
- While Smith may be right about the Pats, the team is highly unlikely to attempt to recoup those lost draft picks now, reports Tom Curran of CSNNE.com after speaking to someone “very high in the organization.”
- Rachel Axon of USA Today Sports provides a brief and informative Q&A on what today’s ruling means for Brady, the Patriots, and the league, and what will happen next.
- The NFL’s lawyers figure to take “saws and blow-torches” to the league’s personal conduct policy in the near future, says Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports. Specifically, in Robinson’s view, the league must address the ramifications in future cases for obstructing justice or for having “general awareness” of a violation, since there was no precedent set before the league attempted to penalize Brady for those acts.
- Following the league’s latest PR disaster, commissioner Roger Goodell still isn’t in danger of losing his job, but the NFL will likely make more nuanced changes and alterations to various roles and job descriptions, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. La Canfora adds that several sources believe it’s only a matter of time until changes are made within the league’s front office, and the CBS scribe also wonders if the NFL’s relationship with Ted Wells has run its course.
- The NFL’s loss in court is just the latest defeat in what has become a “pattern of losing” for the league, writes Mike Freman of Bleacher Report. According to Freeman, Berman’s decision dealt a blow to both Goodell’s legacy and the NFL’s image.
- As Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports outlines, there may have been a silver lining for the league and for Goodell, since Judge Berman declined to rule on a number of claims made by Brady and the NFLPA. Brady’s camp claimed that Goodell was an “evidently partial” arbitrator and improperly delegated authority to executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent. Had Berman sided with Brady and the NFLPA on those issues, it would have sent a precedent for independent arbitration going forward, but the judge felt he had enough to overturn the league’s ruling based on several other factors, and didn’t commit one way or the other to those claims.
NFL Appeals Judge’s Ruling On Tom Brady
1:52pm: The NFL has officially filed its appeal, according to Andrew Brandt of TheMMQB.com (via Twitter). Brandt confirms that the league didn’t request an injunction, so there are no obstacles for Brady playing in Week 1.
11:26am: The NFL Players Association was quick to issue a statement following Judge Richard Berman’s decision to nullify Tom Brady‘s suspension, and now commissioner Roger Goodell has released a statement of his own. According to Goodell, the league – as expected – will appeal Berman’s ruling, continuing the litigation process. Here’s the full statement, via the NFL’s website:
“We are grateful to Judge Berman for hearing this matter, but respectfully disagree with today’s decision. We will appeal today’s ruling in order to uphold the collectively bargained responsibility to protect the integrity of the game. The commissioner’s responsibility to secure the competitive fairness of our game is a paramount principle, and the league and our 32 clubs will continue to pursue a path to that end. While the legal phase of this process continues, we look forward to focusing on football and the opening of the regular season.”
While the NFL will continue to fight the DeflateGate battle in court, it doesn’t appear the league will seek an injunction to prevent Brady from playing early in the season. That means that, barring Berman’s decision being overturned and the case being finalized before the end of the year, which seems unlikely, Brady will be able to play the entire season for the Patriots.
According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link), there are at least some team owners who would have preferred to see the NFL stand down, rather than continuing the appeals process. Presumably, those owners don’t want the DeflateGate saga to draw attention away from the action on the field, with the regular season around the corner. According to Cole, some owners are also becoming more interested in retooling the NFL’s discipline process.