By Ken Reed
In the last month or so, Roger Goodell has made about every mistake a leader can make. Confidence in his organization, the National Football League, has never been lower.
Goodell’s latest misstep was initiating a badly tainted “investigation” into the Ray Rice situation. The goal of any Rice investigation needs to be finding answers to the following questions: What did the NFL and Goodell know and when did they know it regarding the Ray Rice knockout punch of his fiancee inside the Atlantic City casino elevator?
Unfortunately, we may never know the complete truth since Goodell’s appointed “independent” investigator, Robert Mueller, is an NFL insider. Mueller and Baltimore Ravens’ (Rice’s former team) president Dick Cass once worked at the same law firm. Mueller’s law firm has done work for the NFL in the past, including negotiating television deals. Cass worked at this law firm for more than 30 years. How credible can this investigation be?
Meanwhile, ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” has recently exposed Cass for improperly directing the Rice investigation — at the least — or trying to cover up the video of Rice’s infamous elevator punch, at the worst.
It appears Goodell was doing a favor for Cass and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti when he initially only suspended Rice for two games for the ugly Atlantic City incident.
As things stand today, it’s clear that Goodell completely blew the Rice situation and he has also shown an incredible lack of leadership in the Adrian Peterson domestic violence case.
The public has lost all trust in Goodell, the leader of America’s most popular cultural institution. He should resign. But if he doesn’t resign soon, the NFL owners should suspend him indefinitely.
Cass, meanwhile, should be fired immediately for his unethical actions in regard to the Rice video.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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