NFL Notes: Jerry Jones, Tampering Rules, Packers

Jerry Jones

Mark Maske of the Washington Post, citing multiple people familiar with the deliberations, reports that there is strong and increasing sentiment among NFL owners that they should take disciplinary action against Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. However, this would not include an attempt to have Jones sell the team, which had reportedly been discussed.

According to Maske, if the NFL deems Jones’ actions guilty of conduct detrimental to the league, he could face disciplinary measures including a fine, a suspension or loss of draft picks.

Maske adds that the group of owners who favor disciplining Jones is said to include some of the league’s most influential owners.

“Roger [Goodell] will be extended, and Jerry will be dealt with,” a source familiar with the owners’ sentiments tells Maske.

When asked what they would favor in terms of punishment for Jones, Maske’s source said: “It depends on how far he goes.”

Tampering Rules

• Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the NFL has sent an email last week in which they reminded teams of the changes to its anti-tampering policy.
• The NFL has loosened the rules for teams to interview executives on other teams and eliminated the prerequisite that having final say on a team’s 53-man roster could prevent an executive from interviewing for another franchise’s GM position.
• Teams could previously block interviews involving key front office executives by saying that they had final say on the 53-man roster.
• An NFL executive tells Schefter: “It’s going to have a big impact. This is significant.”

Packers

• Former Packers executive Andrew Brandt writes that there is a “definite sense of betrayal” in Green Bay regarding the situation involving TE Martellus Bennett.
• Based on his relationship with Packers GM Ted Thompson, Brandt believes he’ll be “even more reluctant to tread in what he called the “dangerous waters” of free agency moving forward.”
• Brandt adds that the “draft and develop” philosophy will become “even more ingrained in the Packer Way going forward.”