Report: NFL Team Personnel 'Angry' With Roger Goodell
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- If Roger Goodell truly does not want to hear any dissenting opinions from anyone working in the league, then the NFL commissioner is going to need to throw on some earmuffs.
A few days after Goodell explicitly threatened punishment to any NFL employee who expressed any concern or negativity regarding the NFL's decision to go forth with the draft as scheduled in late April, NBC Sports' Peter King reported from several anonymous sources that, well, NFL employees didn't particularly like that.
"I think it's unlikely he will try to reach out to salve the wounds right now, but Roger Goodell has to know how angry football team personnel are with him right now," King wrote in his weekly FMIA column.
According to King, some NFL personnel -- aka coaches, executives, scouts, etc. -- take issue with the NFL refusing to postpone the draft, while others just didn't appreciate being told that they're not allowed to express their opinions.
King wrote:
Some are unhappy that the draft will go forward on April 23-25, figuring all the restrictions on scouting will make it harder for all teams to get up to speed on players. Some are unhappy that, in Goodell's words, "Public discussion of issues relation to the draft serves no useful purpose and is grounds for disciplinary action." Really? "Why on earth would you ever threaten an opinion?" texted one prominent NFL person. Another: "Whatever happened to freedom of speech?"
Understandably, adult professionals with legitimate concerns about the way they're being forced to work tend to prefer having the ability to express those concerns rather than having their thoughts suppressed by a boss who refuses to allow for such discussion.
The questions, then, are this: Will any coaches or GMs choose to attach their name to any such criticism? And how much long-term damage might Goodell be causing by applying kindergarten rules on a large group of professionals in the middle of a very serious national crisis?
There aren't answers just yet. But if the country remains in a near-lockdown state over the coming weeks and Goodell refuses to budge on much of anything (King intimated in his column that commissioner does not want to host the draft from his house), then it's likely that those unnamed sources might start to speak out a bit more vociferously.