NFL Considering Creating Independent Panel to Handle Player Discipline

The NFL is considering creating an independent panel of experts from outside the league to make crucial decisions on player discipline. More specifically, the panel would focus on placing players and other employees on paid leave if they are arrested prior to their legal cases being resolved.

Mark Maske of The Washington Post reported on a memo sent on Monday from Commissioner Roger Goodell leading up to an owners meeting Wednesday. Maske shared some of the questions pondered by Goodell.

"What is the process for placing someone on paid leave status?" Goodell detailed in the memo. "Should these decisions be made by a third party, or a panel of outsiders, or should they be made by the commissioner?"

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Many of these questions have likely been asked by owners, executives and employees surrounding the league. Possible members of a proposed panel were not detailed in the report.

The league announced a new domestic violence policy in August. Maske wrote that Goodell's memo "raises the issue of whether the NFL should announce a new personal conduct policy for non-player personnel before it announces its new conduct policy for players."

Ray Rice was suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a violent video surfaced of him punching his then-fiancee. Greg Hardy has taken a paid leave of absence and was placed on the commissioner's exempt list while waiting for his domestic violence case to be settled. Adrian Peterson is also on the exempt list during an ongoing child abuse investigation.

Following those cases, Goodell has several other queries that could be better answered by outside sources. Maske shared a few other questions raised by Goodell in the memo:

"

Is it appropriate to remove someone from the workplace prior to an adjudication? If so, when?

And what should the parameters of such a ‘leave with pay’ status be — should the employee have access to the club facility; should counseling and other interventions be required; should the leave be limited to a certain period of time? ... What should be the commissioner’s role in the disciplinary process?

"

Despite the punishment of not playing, Maske mentions the pay that some of those players are receiving. With Peterson still receiving $691,176 weekly from the Minnesota Vikings and Hardy receiving $771,529 each week from the Carolina Panthers, the panel would potentially decide their fate in the future.

In the past, Goodell has made nearly every decision about how to punish players rather than using other resources. Giving up that responsibility to an independent panel would be a drastic change. 

Follow @RCorySmith on Twitter.