GOODELL: PATS WON’T GET DRAFT PICKS BACK
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the media at the end of the owners meetings Wednesday morning. Among the things he said: ON RETURNING NEW ENGLAND’S DRAFT PICKS “I did receive the letter from (Patriots owner) Robert (Kraft) a few weeks back. I responded to him. I didn’t think there was any new information in there. There will be no changes in discipline.” ON THE LEAGUE MEETINGS “We spent a great deal of time this week, weren’t a lot of voting matters, but most of them came in context of competition committee and context of making our game better. I would say our game got better this week. Very positive changes.” ON THE NEW EJECTION RULE “I think (Los Angeles Rams coach) Jeff Fisher said it the best, started off the meeting by saying as coaches we are responsible for controlling our players. A second coach made it clear, while we’ve had points of emphasis on competition committee, they need teeth. And this is a rule that brought teeth to that. … Sportsmanship is important to us; it’s important to our players.
“They did consider expanding it into personal fouls and chose not to do that. I think they came to a good place.” ON THE ATLANTA FALCONS’ INVESTIGATION OF COACH Goodell said the Falcons would not be punished after assistant coach Marquand Manuel asked Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple at the NFL combine about his sexual orientation. Goodell said he’s satisfied the organization had taken proper steps, including franchise-wide education, to correct the issue.
“I was impressed with the way he was handling it,” Goodell said of Manuel. ON A GAME IN CHINA Goodell confirmed the NFL was working to host a regular-season game in China. The Los Angeles
Times reported Wednesday the Rams would host that game, but Goodell would not confirm that.
“I think the size of China in the global marketplace, that’s something you can’t ignore. We know we have lots of fans over there, and, more important, potential fans over there,” Goodell said. “We have multiple teams that are interested in playing. We have more than we can handle at this point in time.” ON THE NFL’S INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS ON CTE “The most important thing for us is to support the medical and scientists to determine what the connections are. The statements by (league executive) Jeff Miller (are) consistent with our position over the years. A lot of the research is still at its infancy; we’re trying to find ways to accelerate that.” ON THE JOHNNY MANZIEL INVESTIGATION “Those investigations have been ongoing. I have not gotten an update since before the league meeting. I don’t know where they are (on the review). Lisa Friel, our lead investigator, was out here, and, as you know, worked in the city of New York investigating these kinds of crimes. I have gotten updates from her from time to time, but she has not been able to conclude her investigation to a satisfactory level. When she does, and if it results in discipline, we’ll announce it at that point.” ON JOSH GORDON’S REINSTATEMENT “I actually have scheduled sometime in the next week or so to get an update on that. Our staff has been working on it, we’re obviously aware of it and they have been working on it. As soon as we have the opportunity to see that, we’ll make a judgment.” ON HAVING A TEAM IN LAS VEGAS “(Oakland Raiders owner) Mark Davis is appropriately looking at all his alternatives,” Goodell said. “Both San Diego and Oakland, they need to investigate those alternatives. Hope we can avoid any relocation to start with.”