The Eagles fined wide receiver Riley Cooper on Wednesday after video surfaced of him using a racial slur at a concert and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday that the league will not be taking any supplementary disciplinary action against the wideout.
During an appearance with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic on ESPN Radio, Goodell said that Cooper’s words were offensive and unacceptable and that he was glad that the Eagles disciplined Cooper with both a fine and “training” designed to address the situation. He also explained why the league would not be adding any further punishment to the plate.
“We do not penalize at the club level and league level for same incident,” Goodell said. “We will not be taking action separately from the club.”
Goodell was also asked about the league’s feeling that Cooper’s words were wrong and offensive when they have had no objection to the continued use of Redskins as the nickname for Washington’s team.
“I don’t see a comparison,” Goodell said. “That’s a name that has always represented pride, heritage, tradition; the things that, I think, have made Redskins fans so proud of that name. And they have always presented the Redskins in a positive light. We have to continue to be open and continue to listen, but we also want to make sure we’re doing what’s right to encourage that heritage and that pride we have in the Redskins name.”
There’s a lot of hair splitting going on in that answer, something Goodell and others in the NFL have gotten a lot of practice with in recent years when it comes to questions about the use of a name that some people find as offensive as the word Cooper used before being fined by the Eagles.