Goodell looks to strengthen anti-cheating policies
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, intent on strengthening the league's reputation in the wake of the Spygate scandal that continues to reverberate, is urging the league's influential competition committee to come up with guidelines to keep the sport free from cheating.
Goodell has sent a memo to the committee asking it to come up with ways to ensure that all teams comply with rules and regulations, according to the Washington Post. Last season, the Patriots were caught illegally taping the Jets' defensive signals during a Week 1 game. The Patriots were eventually hit with heavy sanctions - a $500,000 fine for coach Bill Belichick, an additional $250,000 fine for the team, and the removal of their first-round pick in 2008. The Patriots own the 49ers' pick from a trade last year.
"As the Commissioner and Competition Committee, we must take every appropriate step to safeguard the integrity of the NFL," Goodell wrote in the memo. "We have already taken some positive and significant actions this past season, but we must go further to ensure fair competition amongst our 32 teams and maintain public confidence in our game."
Goodell said he will impose more severe penalties on teams and employees who violates the rules, and also proposed a measure that would require team employees to report "actual or suspected" violations. Another would require each team's principal owner, highest-ranking football executive and head coach to publicly acknowledge that they have complied with the rules.
I like what the commissioner is doing. With the black cloud of Spygate still hovering, and with former Patriots video employee Matt Walsh still not telling all he knows because of potential legal pressures, Goodell needs to move forward and do all he can to avoid future incidents like the one that has caused the league - and the Patriots - so much grief.
His proposals would put some teeth into the rules enforcement, and would go a long way toward guaranteeing the integrity of the game. My sense is that the owners will embrace the chance to move forward and to agree that internal safeguards are the way to go. It's a good and important next step to close the book on an ugly chapter in NFL history.