Top Takeaways from Roger Goodell's Exclusive Interview with Peter King

In September, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters he had never considered resigning despite the cascade of criticism that washed over him in the aftermath of the Ray Rice debacle. With half a year to reconsider his position, Goodell doubled down when asked a similar question by The MMQB's Peter King. 

"No. N-O. No," Goodell said in an exclusive interview with King when asked if he had considered stepping down.

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Goodell has increasingly become a lightning rod for criticism over the last year, in particular due to his handling of off-field issues for players. The commissioner has since introduced a more stringent player conduct policy and added staff specifically to handle disciplinary issues. Rebuilding trust with the fans, Goodell said, was at the heart of those decisions.

"We have to meet the expectation of our fans," Goodell said. "They deserve it. We have to show them that their faith and trust in us is well placed."

Goodell also said he is "proud" of how the league implemented the new policy:

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I'm proud of what we did. I think what we did in developing a new personal conduct policy and making the changes that we made in education and making sure that people understand this issue, the things that we did more publicly about bringing to light this issue I think will be beneficial long-term to society—those things are things that we'll look back and be proud of those accomplishments.

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In addition to disciplinary changes, Goodell also discussed the ever-evolving game and the plans he has for expanding the league's scope going forward. Playoff expansion and discussions of adding more games in Europe for 2016 seem all but inevitable. Goodell said playoff expansion will be discussed at this week's upcoming owners meetings.

"The expansion of the playoffs will be discussed," Goodell said. "We think it has a lot of merit from a competitive side, because it would actually add more teams to the race at the end of the season."

The league is also considering shortening the preseason from four games to three. Goodell would not say whether that would mean adding extra contests to the regular season and said his former goal of an 18-game campaign has been put on the back burner. Other potential changes that will be discussed include moving extra points back and possibly narrowing the uprights.

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Goodell also said Ted Wells' investigation into Deflategate will be completed soon, though there is no formal timetable: 

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I think the most important thing is to get the right information, to get the facts and to get the truth. And not to make any judgments until you get that. We have been very careful on that. We followed the facts. We took the information. We determined that we should bring Ted Wells to further the investigation. We haven't given him a timetable except to be thorough, be fair and get to the truth. When he's completed his report, that will be made public as well as to all of us.

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The commissioner also denied claims he'd heard anything of the Patriots deflating balls before the AFC Championship Game. He claimed the first time anyone made him aware of the situation was after it had been reported to the league office.

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