Jerry Jones says he won't sue over Roger Goodell's contract, but fight isn't over

Jarrett Bell | USA TODAY

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Jerry Jones says he's dropped the notion of suing fellow NFL owners over the process for extending Roger Goodell’s contract. But the Dallas Cowboys' patriarch is hardly ready to give up the fight.

“I want accountability,” Jones told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday.

Meaning Jones wants the full body of owners — not just the six-member compensation committee — to finalize the pact and structure of performance bonuses that reportedly could bring the commissioner's annual pay to roughly $50 million.

In May, Jones and his fellow owners — by a 32-0 vote — authorized the compensation committee headed by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank to close Goodell's next deal. That committee had embraced Jones as an ad hoc member ... until recently, when he threatened to sue.

Then there’s the Ezekiel Elliott situation. In August, Goodell imposed a six-game suspension on the Cowboys star for violating the league's personal conduct policy amid domestic violence allegations. Jones later used profane language in threatening to come after Goodell, according to an ESPN report, much harder than Patriots owner Robert Kraft did in response to Deflategate.

What a mess.

“This is not about replacing Roger,” Jones contended. “It’s a misnomer to say it’s payback for Ezekiel Elliott. It is about the accountability of the commissioner to all of the ownership.”

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An owner who is not on the compensation committee told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that he expects Goodell’s contract will be finished by early next week. Another owner, also requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue, told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that he believes Jones’ admonishment of the process has actually helped pushed the deal to completion.

Although Jones, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, says that he enjoys the support of several owners regarding the merits of his objections, it’s clear that he has rankled others. The tipping point came with the threat to sue.

Maybe Jones senses that wedge, too, maintaining Tuesday that he won’t sue despite enlisting high-powered attorney David Boiles.

“I told the committee that I was standing down on legal action because they wanted to get input from all of the owners," Jones said.

Ever flamboyant, Jones, who owns the most valuable sports franchise in the world, with Forbes estimating the Cowboys' worth at $4.2 billion, has been willing to battle the league and other owners before — and, in hindsight, he proved to be on the right side of history.

Not long after he purchased the Cowboys in 1989 for $140 million, Jones joined a coalition of new-guard owners known as the “Chicago 11” that moved to block the intended appointment of Jim Finks as successor to then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle, leading to Paul Tagliabue’s tenure. Jones also spearheaded the resistance to giving CBS massive rebates on its TV contract, opening the door for Fox to broadcast NFL games and an explosion in revenues from rights fees. And in a Pepsi vs. Coke encounter, he legally skirmished the NFL over sponsorship rights, which changed the face of the marketing sponsorship game in pro sports.

That Jones has passionately challenged the commissioner’s pay has merit, too —especially when considering the numerous off-field matters that Goodell has bungled in recent years.

But Goodell has also helped drive league revenues past $15 billion annually and taken a lot of heat for owners as the NFL’s front man. There's just some apparent gray area in determining what that’s worth.

One reason some owners are pushing to finish his extension ASAP — months after reports surfaced in August suggesting that a deal was “imminent” — might be to thwart any momentum Jones is building.

“There have been material changes since the resolution,” Jones said, explaining why he's reconsidered since voting to OK the contract. “It should go back to the ownership.”

This has been described as an all-out NFL civil war, complete with a stream of details that have put the league — and Jones, who contends that he’s acting in the NFL's best interest — in a bad light. Asked whether he’s concerned the attention has damaged the NFL’s brand, Jones replied: “No. I’m concerned that the issues that can impact the brand aren’t being addressed by not bringing this back to ownership.”

Jones’ cause wasn’t helped when the ESPN report emerged last week.

“As long as those comments are kept in the context of the overall conversation, then I don’t deny that I said that,” said Jones, who apparently referred to Kraft with an expletive.

“But I deny threatening Roger.”

Kraft defended Tom Brady to the hilt and publicly chastised Goodell in contesting the Deflategate verdict. But ultimately, Kraft paid $1 million in fines, the Patriots lost two draft picks, including a first rounder, and Brady served a four-game suspension after a lengthy court battle.

But Jones' alleged outspokenness has sparked suggestions he could be disciplined for conduct “detrimental” to the NFL — as absurd as that sounds.

“My position is that the owners expect me to be the ombudsman for them, as to this committee,” Jones said, alluding to his allies. “No one has the NFL’s best interest in mind more than me, and I’m doing what I was asked to do by the owners. I don’t see how you can be disciplined for that.”

Some owners are just as adamant that, this time, Jones has really crossed the line.

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Follow NFL columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell

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