Jerry Jones sees a prone Roger Goodell, and he’s pouncing.
The influential Cowboys owner was a leader♒ of a 17-owner conference call Thursday discussing whether they could halt a pending contract extension for the commissioner, .
Jones tried holding up the talks last month, , after Goodell slammed Ezekiel Elliott with a six-game suspension (a war that is now being waged in court). Amid another controversy this month — the national anthem saga has necessitated multiple owners-players meetings, as Goodell won’t mandate the players stand and Jones is threatening Cowboys onto their feet — Jones appears to be relaunching an attempt at dethroning the commissioner.
According to the report, the owners are unhappy with Goodell for a few reasons beyond the anthem, including how the NFL handled the relocation of teams to Los Angeles and (still) the league’s bungling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case.
“You don’t get to have this many messes over the years like Roger has had and survive it,” one owner said during the call, according to ESPN.
The league would need 24 owners to approve of Goodell’s firing, thus it is unlikely Jones can corral enough owners to overthrow a commissioner who has made them a lot of money. Yet Goodell’s contract extension — a near-certainty in September — still has not been finalized.
“Maybe Arthur [Blank, head of the compensation committee] and that committee think they’re on track,” an owner told ESPN about Goodell’s extension talks. “But they have a lot more resistance than they counted on — and maybe they don’t know how the resistance is growing as we speak.”
The possibility exists that Jones’ lobbying is simply for leverage, trying to trim some zeroes off Goodell’s new deal. Jones reportedly has long pushed the belief that Goodell, who has made more than $200 million as commissioner, is overpaid.