fbpx
Skip to main content

NFLPA President Compares Roger Goodell to Two-Year Old

NFLPA President and current Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Eric Winston likely isn’t going to be partying with commissioner Roger Goodell anytime soon.

In an article by CSN New England’s Tom Curran following Goodell’s State of the League address on Friday, Winston had some rather strong remarks about the commissioner. 

Hey, even the worst bartender at Spring Break does pretty well. Think about it, a 2-year-old could [be NFL Commissioner] and still make money.

The interesting dynamic here is that Winston was as surprised as you or me that the veteran Boston scribe utilized this quote in his article.

In apologizing to Goodell later on Friday, Winston had the following to say…

In a casual conversation with a reporter about the success of the NFL and how nothing seems to get in its way, I inappropriately and flippantly made a remark about the job of Commissioner Goodell. We often disagree on the issues but I want to apologize to Roger for being unprofessional. I am disappointed that my comment was taken out of context and inserted into a column without any knowledge that the conversation was ‘on the record.’ I am disappointed that this reporter chose to burn me, but this is an important lesson that I will learn going forward. This is my fault and again, I apologize.

Unfortunately for Winston, most people can read between the lines here. Athletes and journalists both know when a conversation is off the record or not. It’s really lazy of Winston to throw that out there.

As the NFLPA President, Winston has every right to question Goodell. Heck, there aren’t many that would have criticized him for making those off-handed remarks. But he probably should own up to it, especially in lieu of attempting to throw a respected media member under the bus.

The relationship between the NFL Players Association and the league itself may not border on the labor strife we saw back in 2011, but it could end up boiling over at some point soon. That’s likely one of the reasons Winston backtracked from his original statement to Curran.

Photo: USA Today

More About: