NFL insider: I think Jerry Jones wants to take control of the league
- Jerry Jones has reportedly hired a powerful attorney and threatened to sue other owners.
- Jones is being described as a "maverick" who is leading the charge to block Roger Goodell's contract extension.
- Jones may be taking a play from his mentor and angling to gain control of the NFL.
While the NFL continues to butt heads with players over the protests during the national anthem, a larger war appears to be brewing behind the scenes among the owners themselves and Jerry Jones is leading the charge.
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Jones hired powerful attorney David Boies and threatened to sue the NFL and other owners over Commissioner Roger Goodell's pending contract extension. While Jones has reportedly been lobbying for months to block the extension, and does have some support among other owners, the feeling now is that he does not have enough support to get the necessary votes to block the needed two-thirds votes needed to approve the contract.
While it is unclear on what grounds Jones would sue the NFL, the reason for the move maybe the one of the oldest plays in the book - Jones may just want more power.
That's what ESPN's NFL insider Adam Schefter speculated on Thursday during an appearance on "Mike & Mike."
"I think Jerry wants to take control of the league. I think that he does not want to see Roger Goodell in power," Schefter said, adding, "Jerry Jones is almost being a maverick on this, leading the charge to try to get Goodell out of there, or reduce his salary, or have some type of effect."
Jones may now be fighting the NFL for the same reason Davis long fought the NFL.
"Jerry Jones' role model was Al Davis, and Al Davis loved to go after the league," Schefter said. "Al Davis didn't like it when the power of the league resided in the league office or with the commissioner. He didn't believe it should be that way. And Jerry Jones now believes the exact same thing. He believes that the owners - maybe even him - should be controlling this league, not Roger Goodell."
Davis did serve as commissioner of the AFL for one season, prior to its merger with the NFL. He was effectively replaced after the merger by NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, leading to a long-standing feud between the pair.
Schefter did say that he believes the NFL's compensation committee will get Goodell's extension done eventually.
According to the Mark Maske of the Washington Post, sources have told him, the committee "intends to ignore Jones's threat and plans to have the deal with Goodell in place either by the owners' meeting scheduled to be held in Dallas in December or by the annual league meeting in March."