Speaking at the end of the league meetings here, Goodell said Watson was still under investigation by the NFL for possible breaches of his personal political behavior. League researcher Lisa Friel oversees the investigation, which Goodell said has no timetable for completion at this time. Once the investigation is complete, he or she will be referred to a jointly appointed NFL / NFLPA Disciplinary Officer, who will determine whether Watson should be suspended and / or fined for any breaches of the personal conduct policy identified by the investigation. “Obviously these are serious allegations, so we are taking it seriously,” Goodell said. “Personal behavior policy is something that is very important to us and we do not need a criminal record to pursue it.” 2 About Two separate Texas courts have recently refused to charge Watson with criminal charges stemming from allegations made against him by several massage therapists who claim he is involved in sexual misconduct. However, 22 women are still pending civil charges against him, and Watson told a news conference last week that she had no plans to settle them. Asked specifically if Watson could end up on the Commissioner’s list of exceptions – a device the league has used in the past to impose paid leave on players under investigation – Goodell said the lack of criminal charges makes it much less likely. That means Watson, who traded from the Houston Texans in Cleveland earlier this month, will likely be available to the Browns while the league investigation is ongoing. Goodell was also asked if the structure of Watson’s $ 230 million new contract with Cleveland, which includes a big sign-up bonus but a minimum wage for the league this year, would affect how the league could impose discipline. . The low base salary could serve as financial protection for Watson in the event of a pay suspension, as the game checks he lost would be the league’s lowest. However, the policy of personal conduct states that “discipline may be a fine, suspension for a definite or indefinite period of time (or a combination of the two”), indicating that, if it deems it appropriate, the disciplinary officer could impose a fine other than from suspension without remuneration. “This would not limit our ability to impose discipline,” Goodell said of the contract structure. “We would be able to apply discipline as appropriate.” Other topics covered in Goodell’s press conference on Tuesday: Goodell said Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder will be sidelined from the franchise’s day-to-day operations as a result of last year’s NFL investigation. Snyder’s wife and Commanders co-CEO Tanya Snyder has represented the team at league events for almost eight months. He has also handled the day-to-day tasks of franchise management. Dan Snyder attended the Washington games last season, but was not present at the team’s training session in Asburn, Virginia. Goodell said Tanya “represented the club here and that will continue at least for the foreseeable future, but Dan and I will talk about it sometime.” On July 2, the NFL announced that it had fined Washington $ 10 million for creating a toxic workplace culture and that Dan Snyder would be out of the franchise’s daily business for at least several months. The NFL opened another investigation into Snyder in February after a former employee, Tiffany Johnston, complained of sexual misconduct. This research is ongoing. Asked about former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores’s pending lawsuit against the league for unfair recruitment of minority coaching staff, Goodell told the Diversity, Justice and Integration Committee that it was important to Flores’s complaints and understand what the league can do best in terms of diversity in recruitment practices. The league passed a resolution on Monday requiring each team to have at least one minority coach on its offensive coaching staff. Goodell also said that if the league’s investigation into Flores’s allegations that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him money to lose games deliberately to improve the team’s position in the draft turns out to be a breach, those findings will be made public. ESPN’s John Keim contributed to this report.
