NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke to reporters in Canton, Ohio on Friday and much of the focus was on the league’s much-criticized two-game suspension for Ravens running back Ray Rice.
Goodell answered questions on other topics, however. The fallout from the Dolphins’ 2013 harassment of tackle Jonathan Martin and others was one such topic. Goodell was asked if there would be suspensions handed down to former Dolphins guard Richie Incognito, Giants guard John Jerry or current Dolphins center Mike Pouncey for the behavior outlined in the Ted Wells Report into the situation.
“There are different issues with different individuals. The bottom line is that everything is proceeding. They’re doing what they’ve been asked to do. We will make individual decisions, if necessary, with any one of those individuals,” Goodell said, via the Newark Star-Ledger. “It’s a broad issue. I would say that the one person who has been very responsive in going through the program has been Richie Incognito. We’re working with his people and monitoring his progress on that front.”
Pouncey is expected to miss the first half of the season after hip surgery and Incognito is currently unemployed, leaving Jerry as the only member of the trio currently seeing the field. Jerry hasn’t discussed anything having to do with what the NFL has asked of him this summer while trying to earn a role on a Giants line with an opening at guard following Chris Snee’s retirement.
While Goodell didn’t rule anything out, it sounds like Jerry and the others will avoid suspension as long as they continue to satisfy the mandates the league laid down, which included psychological evaluations, after the release of the report.