The NFL always seems to be dealing with big, external problems — concussions, domestic violence, national anthem demonstrations, or sliding TV ratings.
Now, the league has a problem on the inside, threatening to tear apart the power structure. The NFL has a Jerry Jones problem.
The Cowboys’ owner has become a one-man wrecking crew in NFL politics, freely swinging his significant heft to get whatever he wants, to the point that he is now attacking the very league he represents.
An owner since 1989, Jones is threatening to sue the NFL, turning full heel against a league that has earned him billions of dollars and enshrined him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame just three months ago.
His targets: Roger Goodell and Falcons owner Arthur Blank, chairman of the NFL’s compensation committee, which determines Goodell’s salary. Goodell’s contract expires in 2019, and for months he has had the framework of a new five-year deal through 2024 in the works. But Jones is upset with the terms of the deal — approximately $200 million over five years, or $40 million per year — and believes Goodell’s pay should have fewer guarantees and more incentives based on performance.
Of course, Goodell’s contract is not just what upsets Jones. He wants Goodell to order players to stand for the national anthem, and Jones is incensed over the power Goodell wielded in handing down a six-game suspension for Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, which begins this weekend.
The threat of a lawsuit might not be Jones’s only attack. Many believe that Jones, who owns more than 100 Papa John’s franchises and is close with company CEO John Schnatter, orchestrated Schnatter’s recent attack on the NFL about the national anthem, declining TV ratings, and his declining pizza sales.
The NFL has tried to appease Jones, making him an ad hoc seventh member of the compensation committee as it negotiated with Goodell. But Blank removed Jones from that post last week, and NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said it is “a fair assumption that threatened litigation may have been something to do with that.’’
The NFL is finding out that fixing its Jones problem is a lot more difficult than fixing its personal conduct policy or holding joint meetings with players about the anthem. Jones seems to be directly at odds with Blank and many of the Old Guard owners, and might have enough juice among the other owners to oust Goodell and install his own figurehead commissioner.
Jones’s attorney sent multiple letters to the NFL’s attorneys last week, calling Goodell’s impending contract “the most one-sided deal they have ever seen’’ and claiming that the compensation committee intentionally is misleading the other owners about the terms. The letters threaten a lawsuit if the committee does not change the terms of Goodell’s new contract, though it didn’t establish the legal grounds on which Jones would sue the NFL.
“Accordingly, Jerry Jones will continue to exercise his right to protect himself and the owners from the Committee Chairman’s undertaking of a substantial financial commitment on behalf of the NFL without the owners’ vote,’’ Cowboys general counsel Jason Cohen wrote, via ESPN.
The NFL’s attorneys snapped right back on Thursday with their own letter, reminding Jones that he and the other owners authorized the compensation committee to execute a deal. At May’s owners meetings in Chicago, the owners voted, 32-0, to authorize the six members of the compensation committee to negotiate and execute a contract extension with Goodell without the approval of the other 26 owners. The compensation committee comprises of Robert Kraft, John Mara, Art Rooney, Clark Hunt, Bob McNair, and Blank.
But Jones is determined. He held a conference call with about 15 other owners last week to inform them of his version of events. The NFL claims that it is Jones who is intentionally misleading the rest of the group.
“The committee’s chair has gone out of his way to be fully transparent with the ownership about the status of the Committee’s work,’’ wrote NFL attorney BradKarp. “Your description of the proposed extension is so at odds with the actual facts that we can only conclude that you are either uninformed or seek deliberately to mislead the other owners.’’
The NFL is used to being attacked by the players’ union, media, and fans. But for the most influential owner in the league to go rogue on the commissioner and league office is a fascinating turn of events.
NFL owners never rock the boat. They make piles of money, with Jones’s Cowboys now valued at $4.2 billion by Forbes, the most valuable sports franchise in the world. Only two owners have ever sued the league — Al Davis, still a pariah among many owners in the room, and Jones, who was sued and then countersued the NFL in 1995 for the ability to negotiate his own local marketing and advertising contracts. Kraft had the option of a lawsuit two years ago during Deflategate, but opted against it, stating that “at no time should the agenda of one team outweigh the collective good of the full 32.’’
But Jones doesn’t share the same view. He has become the league’s most powerful owner not just because he owns the Cowboys, but also through his company Legends Hospitality, which has given him a stake in several other teams.
Legends, which helps teams sell stadium naming writes, hospitality suites, concessions, and other stadium operations, already has deals with the Falcons and 49ers. It also will help sell suites and sponsorships at the Rams’ and Chargers’ new stadium in Los Angeles, and the Raiders’ new stadium in Las Vegas. Jones is largely responsible for those teams ending up in their new homes, going against the advice of the league’s relocation committee and setting up many of the deals himself.
Goodell is the face of the NFL, but Jones, increasingly, runs the league.
Lockhart said Goodell’s contract should be wrapped up “soon,’’ though he couldn’t say when. The 32-0 vote in May certainly works against Jones, and legal experts don’t quite know how Jones would successfully sue the league in this matter.
But Goodell should be worried. Jones is a man who knows what he wants, and is determined to get his way.
PATRIOTS WIN AGAIN
Claiming Bennett was a no-brainer
A few items on the Patriots:
■ You can already hear the grumbling out of Green Bay that Martellus Bennett quit on the Packers and forced his way back to the Patriots.
But no one twisted the Packers’ arm.
They could have easily put Bennett on injured reserve and sent him home for the season. Instead, they released him with a “failure to disclose physical condition,’’ which opens up the possibility that they will try to recoup up to $4.2 million in signing bonus money for the next two years that he was under contract.
Of course, winning a grievance won’t be easy, as the Packers passed Bennett in a physical last March, and all NFL medical information is now shared among the 32 teams.
And for teams and fans grousing that Bennett landed back in New England, the Patriots had the 30th waiver priority last week, so 28 other teams (other than Green Bay) could have claimed Bennett, too.
■ From the Patriots’ perspective, claiming Bennett was a no-brainer. He and the coaches know each other, Tom Brady could use another weapon in the passing game, and Bennett is cheap.
Last March, the Packers offered Bennett much more than the Patriots were willing to spend — a three-year, $21 million deal that realistically was just one year and $8 million. But $6.3 million came in a signing bonus, and Bennett’s base salary is the league minimum for a player of his experience, $900,000. He also earns a $37,500 bonus for every game that he plays (maximum $600,000). The Packers have already paid him more than $7 million, and the Patriots are on the hook for 8/17ths of his salary ($423,529) and up to $300,000 in bonus money.
If Bennett had cleared waivers, the Patriots couldn’t have signed him for any cheaper than $423,529. By claiming him, they take on the additional $300,000, which is well worth it to ensure that you get the player. Even if Bennett has a bad rotator cuff, he can still catch some touchdowns and help in run blocking. And if he can’t play, they don’t owe him the extra money.
■ Bennett also comes with no future obligation. Bennett has a nonguaranteed $2 million roster bonus due on the third day of the 2018 league year this March, and if the Patriots decline it, they won’t take any financial or salary cap hit.
■ The biggest winner in the Patriots-49ers trade involving Jimmy Garoppolo may be agent Don Yee, who represents both Brady and Garoppolo.
The Brady-Garoppolo depth chart had a chance to create a messy situation, with Garoppolo potentially forcing Brady out of New England and toward retirement.
Instead, Brady gets to keep quarterbacking the Patriots for two or three more years (or 10, knowing him), and now Garoppolo gets his own team, and is on the verge of striking it rich.
Though the 49ers don’t have to sign Garoppolo long term, general manager John Lynch said on Friday that the Niners see Garoppolo as their franchise guy.
“That’s only been emphasized by the week that he’s been here,’’ Lynch said on KNBR.
ETC.
Another star finds way to IR
The NFL can’t go a week without a superstar suffering a season-ending injury. Thursday night, the Seahawks’ Richard Sherman tore his Achilles’, joining the parade of big-name players who will finish the season on injured reserve.
But while the list of names is staggering — Aaron Rodgers, J.J. Watt, Odell Beckham, Andrew Luck, Deshaun Watson, and many others — the rate of injury doesn’t seem to be too out of line with previous years.
The MMQB noted that as of last week, 295 players were on the league’s various injury lists, up from 277 last year and 263 in 2014. But anecdotally, the slight increase is due more to a rule change more than anything else.
Now that teams can bring two players off injured reserve during the season, teams have been more liberal with placing players on IR. In the past, teams carried players on the active roster even though they would have to miss a month or two, whereas now players go on IR and can come back in eight weeks.
Kaepernick should wait until 2018
It’s getting to the point where the Packers would rather lose with Brett Hundley and the Texans would rather lose with Tom Savage and T.J. Yates than to give Colin Kaepernick a call.
But it’s also to the point where Kaepernick shouldn’t hope to land a job this year, and instead focus on finding a team this offseason. If Kaepernick signed with a team now, he’d be set up to fail.
After sitting out all of the offseason, training camp, and the first half of the season, it would be quite a challenge to come to a team, quickly learn a playbook, and get on the same page with his teammates. Very few quarterbacks would succeed in that scenario.
The pressure would be immense on Kaepernick to perform right away. And the minute he fails, it will provide the rationale for a team to dump him quickly and likely end his career.
So Kaepernick should forget about 2017, and try to get back on the field for 2018.
Time to let replay rule on ejections
Tampa Bay receiver Mike Evans is suspended for Sunday’s game against the Jets because of his cheap shot against the Saints that ignited a large brawl.
But, strangely, Evans wasn’t ejected from last week’s game. Much like Danny Trevathan wasn’t ejected when he rocked Packers receiver Davante Adams and earned a two-game suspension.
Lockhart defended the officials last week for not being able to see everything.
“These are judgment calls that have to be made on the field by the officials who don’t necessarily have the benefit of 27 replays and slo-mo like we do in our living rooms,’’ Lockhart said.
OK, but Alberto Riveron does. The NFL’s head of officiating is watching every game in the league’s command center. Since he makes instant replay calls, why can’t he help out with the ejection decision?
“Under our competition committee rules, the head of officiating and his team are authorized to look at administrative and timing issues, not the judgment call of play on the field,’’ Lockhart said.
Well, it’s time for a change. The competition committee needs to consider this offseason letting Riveron give his input.
Extra points
The Seahawks face potential discipline if the NFL concludes that the team didn’t follow the concussion protocol correctly with Russell Wilson in Thursday night’s game against Arizona. Wilson took a shot to the jaw, was ordered out of the game by referee Walt Anderson, popped into the medical tent for one play, came back onto the field to finish the drive, then was given a proper evaluation after the drive. The Seahawks are the ones on the hook here, but Wilson is the one who wanted nothing to do with a concussion test. This was yet another example of how the league’s stricter head injury rules don’t work without the players’ cooperation . . . Browns president Sashi Brown denied last week that the front office purposely sabotaged its trade with Cincinnati for quarterback A.J. McCarron, which means they’re OK with us believing that the team simply messed it up. But the team more than made up for it by doing right by left tackle Joe Thomas, who played more than 10,000 consecutive snaps for the team before suffering a season-ending triceps injury last month. Despite the injury, the Browns gave Thomas a raise last week — an extra $1.5 million this year and a $1.5 million raise for next year. It’s great to see a team reward a player for being the ultimate team player over 11 fruitless seasons instead of playing hardball with an aging veteran, as most teams do.
Quite an impressive win for the Redskins last Sunday. Not only did they win at Seattle, arguably the toughest road venue in the NFL, but they did it with just 42 healthy players. Since teams can only designate seven players as inactive, the ’Skins are so banged up that they had to carry four injured players on their game day roster.
The new tax bill being considered by Congress has a “No Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act,’’ and Lockhart was asked last week that if this were to come into law, would it still be viable to build the shiny new stadium in Las Vegas with $750 million in public money? “That is a hypothetical at this point, and we’d have to see how the final bill comes out,’’ he said. That’s not a “yes,’’ but it’s not a “no,’’ either.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin. Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
