MIAMI — The NFL’s new system of enforcing its personal conduct policy debuted with the Deshaun Watson case, and if the whole thing seems just a little bit convoluted, well, it isn’t. It is a lot convoluted! Like, almost laugh-out-loud weird — mostly because it was collectively bargained and somehow agreed to by both the league and its players association.
To summarize, the system changed so NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would no longer be judge, jury and executioner with sole authority to determine suspensions or other punishment for players whose behavior sullied the NFL shield and almighty Integrity Of The League.
So in came a new title, “chief disciplinary officer,” and the league appointed Sue L. Robinson, a retried federal judge. Starting with Watson — only one of the biggest, most salacious and dragged-out player scandals in recent memory — she, not Goodell, would investigate and rule, and her finding would be final.
