NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "will not hear" Vikings RB Adrian Peterson’s appeal on Dec. 2 and instead has appointed former NFL Exec VP/Labor Relations Harold Henderson, though it "might not make a difference," according to Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Henderson "has often sided with the league." The NFLPA reacted to Henderson’s appointment by saying that a longtime NFL exec "could not be neutral." The NFL responded by "defending Henderson, saying he has heard 87 appeals under the CBA ... and that language in every CBA since 1993 has stated the appeals of discipline for off-field conduct are heard and decided by the commissioner or his designee" (STARTRIBUNE.com, 11/21). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote while "not the kind of independence the NFLPA envisioned, Henderson isn’t currently a direct employee of the league office." A "buffer definitely exists between Goodell and Henderson that wouldn’t apply if Goodell had appointed someone like general counsel Jeff Pash to decide" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 11/22). ESPN's Adam Schefter noted the NFL has "gone out of its way to say that (Henderson) will represent the case fairly." Schefter: "Should Harold Henderson rule against Adrian Peterson, then what will probably wind up happening is Peterson will wind up filing suit in federal court and we will have an even more drawn-out legal case" ("Sunday NFL Countdown," ESPN, 11/23).
BARGAINING CHIP: THE MMQB's Jenny Vrentas noted the most "important storyline of this roller-coaster NFL season has been off the field, but what a stronger, clearer personal conduct policy should look like, and how it should be rewritten, are issues nearly as controversial as the off-the-field events that have necessitated change." NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith said, "The league’s refusal to engage in collective bargaining has meant that we necessarily have not had any role in crafting the new personal conduct policy. ... We have had three meetings. But if the league takes the position that they don’t want to collectively bargain about it, then I don’t think you can say the union has been involved in fashioning a new personal conduct policy." He added, "If they don’t collectively bargain, it can’t be a part of our CBA. There is always recourse, but the loss to the NFL is you won’t have a policy that is part of the CBA, like the drug policy, or on-field discipline, or shares of revenue, or what happens with respect to workers comp, benefits, retirement or injury grievances." Asked if a conduct policy should have been more of a priority in the most recent CBA negotiations, NFLPA President Eric Winston said, "Hindsight is 20/20, and it’s always easy to say, we should have done this, or we could have done that. The guys who were in the room fought tooth and nail for everything that we got." Asked if Goodell taking a reduced role in player discipline via the personal conduct policy is off the table, Smith said, "I’m not sure I would characterize him saying 'Everything is on the table' as only dealing with whether he has a reduced role. One, when you say everything is on the table, everything is on the negotiating table. So when they mandated a non-collectively bargained hearing for the first time and threatened Adrian Peterson with showing up at that hearing, does that sound like everything is on the table? ... If you continue to act unilaterally, that simply means nothing is on the table. It never was." Winston: "That’s the problem when you say something and don’t do it. That adds to the confusion. That adds to the mistrust. That adds to the frustration, to the anger" (MMQB.SI.com, 11/21).
FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS: In N.Y., Juliet Macur writes it is a union’s job to "fight for its members’ rights, no matter what they have done wrong, no matter how reprehensible their actions," and the NFLPA "has done just that." It "can’t be pleasant to fight for the reinstatement" of players like Peterson or Ray Rice "when you know ... that a good number of people, even among the league’s membership, don’t want them back on the field anytime soon, or even at all." What must make the union "feel even worse is that, in some ways, it has itself to blame for the mess that it finds itself in." The NFLPA years ago "agreed to let the commissioner’s office decide the punishments for players’ off-the-field transgressions." That "makes it a bit difficult to complain" as Goodell "makes and remakes punishments on the fly." However, it is "sensible that the NFL consider the possibility of a collectively bargained personal conduct policy." It certainly "can’t be worse than the mess the league and the players have on their hands this year, one that has weakened the union’s bargaining position and diminished the commissioner’s authority" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/24).
LIVING BY THE RULES THEY CREATED: CBS Sports Network's Amy Trask said, "A point we just can't forget is the union agreed to this. During the collective bargaining associations, when the union had a tremendous amount of leverage, the union had every ability to say, ‘No. No. No.’ ... But the union didn’t do that. So to hear the union now decry that which it agreed to is bothersome." She added, "I feel for the players. I really do. If I were a player, I would say, ‘I want to know what the standards are and I want you to apply them consistently.’ But the player outrage should be directed at the union leadership that agreed to the deal” (“That Other Pregame Show,” CBS Sports Network, 11/23). The Detroit Free Press' Mitch Albom said Goodell is "doing what he's doing because he's allowed to do it by the CBA." Albom: "It's written in there. He has this power. ... He has his power under the collective bargaining agreement. If the players’ union doesn't like it, when the next one comes around, they're going to have to say, ‘By the way, we don't want the commissioner deciding everything'" ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN2, 11/23).
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Goodell has appointed Henderson to hear
Peterson's appeal |
ROGER'S RULES: In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote if Goodell and the owners "at whose pleasure he serves do not now understand how flawed their collective bargaining agreement is as it relates to the personal conduct of the employees of the NFL, then that CBA and that policy will continue to do the kind of damage to the NFL that its players have done recently to women and children." Goodell "continues to act as if he is as strong as ever." He "continues to act as if he is still the most powerful man in professional sports in this country. Only he is not." The "best thing for Goodell to do is use the immense powers he has been given by the NFLPA and voluntarily agree to give up some of those powers" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/23).
