Roger Goodell is ruling with an iron fist, just like we wanted
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is wary.
Wary of speaking out about the big social issues that he could use his fame to influence; wary of drifting too far off the NFL’s company line on pretty much anything.
He's not alone in this wariness either. He says it hovers over the entire league.
The Packers quarterback doesn’t think that this tight-lipped culture will change, either. As he sees it “guys in the NFL are probably worried about repercussions on speaking their mind from the league."
If that fear of The Shield stops players from speaking on important issues, like gun violence and race relations, then it certainly pertains to issues regarding the league itself — and that’s the way Roger Goodell likes it.
We’ve entered a new period in NFL history, and the league's actions Monday provided the clearest evidence of it yet. You won’t notice the shift on the field, but its effects will be there nonetheless.
Monday, the league notified the NFL Players’ Association that four players — Clay Matthews, James Harrison, Julius Peppers, and Mike Neal — have until Aug. 25 to be interviewed as part of the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug investigation — stemming from the Al-Jazeera report that implicated Peyton Manning — or they will be suspended. The NFLPA has repeatedly claimed that the players do not need to participate, but the league is doubling down on its demand.
And make no mistake, this is a bet the league will win.
Welcome to the era of Roger Goodell’s iron fist — an era we played a big role in creating.
Fans of the NFL have long held the belief that Goodell is a dictator — that title is certainly apt now, and there’s not much anyone can do about it.
The league office cited Article 46 of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement in its letter to the NFLPA Monday, a citation they will make in every disciplinary case until the end of the 2020 season.
You probably don’t know what Article 46 is, but it’s a good bet you have an opinion about it — it’s the clause that Goodell and the league used to suspend Tom Brady for four games.
A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned Brady’s appeal of the league’s four-game suspension in April, in essence upholding Goodell’s power to suspend players as he sees fit and to appoint anyone he so chooses as an arbiter of that suspension, should it be appealed — powers granted to him by Article 46.
Then, on Aug. 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit determined that Goodell had the power to suspend Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in 2014, because of — you guessed it — Article 46 of the CBA.
The two court rulings were massive wins for Goodell and the league and will certainly embolden the commissioner to act swiftly and without remorse when he sees something happening around the league he doesn't like.
Two courts just underneath the Supreme Court determined that he can fashion discipline as he sees fit for any crime he deems to be detrimental to the game. That's deity-level power — of course he's going to use it..
Where is the line? Wherever Roger Goodell says it is.
We brought about this era. We wanted it, remember?
Goodell suspended Ray Rice for two games in 2014 following his domestic violence incident, because, as he said "We just can't make up the discipline. It has to be consistent with other cases. And it was in this matter."
But that wasn’t good enough for us. We wanted more. We saw the video and thought two games was a joke.
The public pressure on Goodell built and built and built. A month after the July 2014 suspension, the NFL revamped its domestic violence policy and Goodell admitted culpability for the short suspension, telling NFL owners in a letter “I didn't get it right."
But when more video of Rice’s domestic violence surfaced on Sept. 8 — this video showed Rice punching his now-wife in the face — Goodell didn't want to go another round with the public and its outcry, so he suspended the running back indefinitely. There was no citation of legal precedent for this suspension, just a hope that it would stop the calls for Goodell's job.
Rice, who was released by the Ravens the day he was suspended indefinitely, swiftly appealed the suspension. His legal team pointed to Article 46 of the CBA — specifically, Section 4, which prevents double jeopardy — as the appeal's linchpin.
Surely, the league’s lawyers took a long look at Article 46 at that juncture.
Hey, if you cite this clause, you don’t have to follow the guidelines set by other league policies.
Had you just used this with the Rice case at its start, you wouldn't be on the hot seat today.
Goodell had to show that he was still in charge — Article 46 was his play.
With 46 in hand, Goodell didn’t need to bother with precedent or consistency when it came to suspending Peterson in Nov. 2014 after the Vikings running back pleaded no contest to reckless assault of a child. Goodell used Article 46 to suspend one of the NFL's biggest stars indefinitely — a suspension that lasted until it was overturned by U.S. District Judge David Doty the following April.
The NFL appealed that decision and continued to act with unprecedented latitude, citing Article 46 again when it suspended Brady a month after Peterson was reinstated.
The NFL was firm in its conviction that the suspensions were within the letter of the law. The courts determined this summer that was the case: Goodell can suspend anyone he wants for as long as he wants, and he can have a lackey uphold that suspension in appeal.
Surely, power that absolute can be abused.
How long is it until Goodell deems that “conduct detrimental” includes speaking out against the NFL, or the commissioner himself? There are no limitations on his scope, and it’s highly unlikely the NFLPA will take another Article 46 issue to court, so what’s stopping Goodell from being petty?
Which brings us back to the four players who have 10 days to interview with the NFL or face suspension.
The NFLPA doesn’t like the precedent it would set. It says that the league's agreed-upon PED policy doesn’t require players to participate in investigations unless “credible evidence” is cited by the NFL. Given how the league has already cleared Peyton Manning, who was also cited in the Al-Jazeera report, of any wrongdoing, it’s fair to say that credible evidence hasn’t been provided.
But that doesn’t matter, because Goodell isn’t requesting the interviews under the league’s PED policy — he’s using Article 46. Why use a knife when you have a bazooka?
This is Goodell flaunting his summer wins.
Does the NFLPA want to test Article 46’s power again? Do they want to fight another battle in a war that’s already been lost? You can almost hear Goodell saying “go ahead, DeMaurice Smith, make my day."
The NFLPA can make a stink and complain for the next nine days, but you can bet that those four players will be interviewed before Aug. 25. Article 46 will win again.
This is the NFLPA’s reality until the CBA expires five long years from now. This is a new era of the NFL, and Roger Goodell can do whatever he wants in it.
