Vincent says NFL hopes to strengthen personal conduct policy

Posted by Mike Florio on September 23, 2014, 11:21 PM EDT
AP
On Tuesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent met with 11 former players in an effort to identify potential changes to the personal conduct policy.  Vincent has provided an update on the session to PFT.
“At today’s meeting, the overriding theme among our former players was restoring respect for the game and our communities by strengthening personal conduct policy and standards,” Vincent said.  “Consistent among these thought leaders was the desire to achieve excellence and hold all of our players and employees accountable to the core values of the NFL.”
Goodell and Vincent met with Mike Singletary, Willie McGinest, Roman Oben, Eddie Mason, Matt Birk, Patrick Kerney, Robert Porcher, Charles Way, Scott Turner, Tony Paige, and Marty Lyons.
“These are men that represented a trans-generational group of players,” Vincent said.  “Some played in the ‘80s, the ‘90s and more recently. They brought to the table both history and institutional knowledge of how the league handled issues in the past, the respect players had and should have for their communities, and the honor it is to play in the NFL. . . .  We discussed topics such as respect for excellence, early intervention, respect for the game, and the importance of integrity and high standards.  These legends of our game emphasized establishing and maintaining accountability for everyone in the NFL family.”
Vincent explained that several additional meetings will be held with former players.  Goodell and Vincent also will meet with active players.
“I believe their input is critically important,” Vincent said of current players, adding that those meetings will happen after the season ends.
“As we move forward to address this critically important issue, the input and leadership of these former players will play a vital role in the solutions we craft to address workplace accountability and expectations,” Vincent added.  “I look forward to participating in this process.”
While the process presumably will result in improved and consistent procedures and practices for determining whether a player has violated the NFL’s rules, it’s clear that NFL players will continue to be held to a high standard of conduct, both on and off the field.
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21 responses to “Vincent says NFL hopes to strengthen personal conduct policy”

  2. Those former players were nothing more than pawns for Troy Vincent and Fidel Goodell to use for PR. Too bad that they allow themselves to be used like that.

  5. PFT: do a side by side comparison of elway’s son’s criminal process and the job that he lost for domestic violence and then compare that to RR. Be interesting to see if elway tried to influence the court or write letters on his son’s behalf. wonder if his son was fired from his job? did the whole country get to see his son do unspeakable things to his girlfriend over and over on every media outlet?

    A new policy is needed but don’t single out a guy who’s done nothing but positive his whole career when it’s YOU who allowed him to play. This is NFL’s job to fix not ray rice.

    #fireRG44millionforthis

  6. No women invited? Of course not, the NFL doesn’t have a problem with women. Historically, the NFL never had a problem until video surveillance cameras became commonplace.
    It was so much easier in the old days.
    Why doesn’t Roger meet with the wives of these former players. It would be less of a PR exercise and more of a learning experience.

  7. All of those guys are part of the good ole boys club and spent as much time politicking behind the scenes as they did playing. This is not “meeting with the players”, its a conference call of (essentially) league employees who won’t be affected by, and have zero control over the personal conduct policy.

  8. “Consistent among these thought leaders was the desire to achieve excellence and hold all of our players and employees accountable to the core values of the NFL.”

    Isn’t the commissioner an NFL employee? We have already seen that there is no accountability for him.

  10. I’m a little confused by the inactivity of the NFLPA on personal conduct. Shouldn’t the union, tasked with ensuring the futures of the players, be involved with helping players mature, stay away from drugs, save money, not beat their wives and girlfriends, not abuse their children?

    The NFL clearly takes responsibility for teaching the players football, that’s what coaches do. It just seems the NFLPA should take the lead helping them in non-football areas.

  13. How about this? Zero tolerance for everything. If you can’t conduct yourself like a professional human being, then get the eff out of the League. No other employers would tolerate such behaviors.

  14. “…it’s clear that NFL players will continue to be held to a high standard of conduct, both on and off the field.”

    Let’s hope the NFL finds a way to hold itself and its Commissioner to “high standard of conduct” too.

    But we need to be realistic about that possibility and the likelihood of the “investigation” actually being unbiased since it’s Roger investigating Roger.

  15. Good luck with that. NFL players make enormous amounts of money. They buy their bling, Ferraris, women, work out at night clubs…………….sad state of affairs.

  16. Good grief. How complicated and drawn out does the process have to be for the NFL to come up with deserving punishments for bad behavior? Set up harsh penalties for conduct and watch how fast the players (and owners) clean their act up.

    Enough with the studies, committees and behavioral experts. Just get on with it!

  17. Sorry to all the Vincent lappers, but in my eyes, the guy, while one helluva CB during his playing days, is an opportunist who first and foremost, is all about Troy Vincent.

  18. IMO, it’s sad to see all the outrage over the Ray Rice incident was, as I expected, FAN outrage, not ACTUAL outrage over domestic abuse.

    The past couple weeks of non stop coverage was simply a chance for the media to write easy stories and have an easy opinion on an actual societal problem/issue.

    But it was mostly fake, fueled by fan ire.

    Domestic abuse can’t be tolerated, and the re-hiring of James Harrison is more proof of the “just win, baby” mentality.

    The Steelers and every other team in the NFL are just as guilty of it as the Ravens. Fans just dont want to admit it.

    If people truly cared about domestic abuse they’d be pissed off and talking angrily about James Harrison and the way Rooney handled his punishment last time.

    Instead we have Steelers fans excited about it, and the media completely ignoring the fact that Rooney, who let Harrison off with a slap on the wrist, is the one presiding over Ray Rice’s appeal to get back in the league!

    #WishPeopleActuallyCaredAboutDomesticAbuse

  19. A noble goal. But be careful what you wish for. As I understand it, NFL players already commit crimes at a lower rate than the general population. How much further below the general population rate can they realistically expect to attain? Setting unrealistic goals can have the affect of making you look like a failure even if you’re doing very well.

  21. ““Some played in the ‘80s, the ‘90s and more recently.”

    *****

    So, let me get this straight. During the 80’s, and 90’s, when the NFL fought tooth and nail for decades acknowledging that concussions were indeed hurting NFL players, NOW players from those times are coming to the aid of the NFL during the NFL’s own self made crisis?

    Question: How much are you paying these former players to carry your dirty laundry?

    If I’m a player from the 80’s, especially the 90’s, when it is well known the NFL LIED about concussions and their impact upon players, no way am I coming to the NFL’s aid….now way!

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