Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has impeded the progress of contract negotiations aimed at an extension for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, according to sources familiar with those talks.
"If not for Jerry," one person familiar with the contract negotiations said this weekend, "this deal would be done."
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is close to an agreement on a new five-year extension that runs through 2024. While a deal is likely to be completed, there are still issues to work out because talks have not progressed as expected.
While some owners believe a deal will be agreed upon, others aren't quite as sure thanks to Jones, who has interjected himself into the process of the NFL's six-man compensation committee, becoming the unofficial seventh member.
Jones is now being singled out by some owners and league executives as the reason Goodell does not have the contract extension that many expected to be in place before this season kicked off, per sources. Goodell's current deal as commissioner expires in 2019.
The increasingly edgy relationship between Jones and Goodell has sharpened to the point where Goodell's long-term future could be in question, according to league sources.
Answers could come soon. Next up is the compensation committee's conference call Wednesday, which is expected to produce a specific term proposal for Goodell, sources said. Jones will be included on the call, sources said.