Commish will be staying put
Roger Goodell has signed a five-year contract extension to remain commissioner of the National Football League through 2024.
Roger Goodell has signed a five-year contract extension to remain commissioner of the NFL through 2024.
A memo from the NFL’s compensation committee to team owners and obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press confirms that Goodell and committee chairman Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, have signed the extension.
All 32 owners approved in May the compensation committee’s power to negotiate and sign a deal with Goodell, who replaced Paul Tagliabue in 2006.
A person familiar with the contract told The Associated Press it is worth almost $200 million, with a base of $40 million.
But the deal is incentiveladen, the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity because the contract numbers are not made public.
Manning set to return as starting QB
Two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning is back as the New York Giants' starting quarterback.
A week after being benched by former coach Ben McAdoo, Manning was put back into the starting lineup for Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys by interim coach Steve Spagnuolo.
"My gut right now says Eli should be the starter," Spagnuolo said in explaining the move after practice Wednesday.
Suspension due to prescription, Texans' linebacker claims
Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing says his 10-game suspension for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs stemmed from the use of an unapproved prescription to treat a mental issue.
Cushing would not divulge what he took or exactly what he sought treatment for, only saying: "there was a good amount of things bothering me in this past offseason, most mentally.
“And I was getting a prescription medication that I probably shouldn't have been."
It's the second time Cushing has been suspended under the same policy after missing the first four games of 2010 after testing positive HCG, a fertility drug that is on the league's banned substance list.
Cushing says other players have approval from the league to take the drug he was suspended for and that he's working with the NFL to get an exemption, too.
One suspension upheld, another overturned
The NFL insists it isn't sending mixed messages as it tries to cut down on what it considers violent plays that cross the line.
The NFL upheld Steelers' rookie wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster's one-game suspension for an illegal hit on Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict.
At the same time, the NFL granted Bengals cornerback George Iloka's appeal of his one-game ban for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Steelers star Antonio Brown in the final minutes of Pittsburgh's occasionally brutal 23-20 victory Monday night.
"It's absolutely absurd," Pittsburgh safety Mike Mitchell said of the NFL's decision to uphold one suspension but overturn the other.