Armour: Time for Roger Goodell to cede some power

Power is a dangerous thing in the hands of the wrong person.

Roger Goodell overreacted and overreached with Ray Rice, just as he did with Bountygate. He may be a brilliant businessman, the best person to ensure that the NFL's bottom line continues to grow. But the commissioner has failed miserably in his attempts to be the league's moral compass, and he needs to recognize that, sometimes, the best use of power is to give it to someone else.

In overturning Rice's indefinite suspension Friday, Barbara S. Jones didn't just side against Goodell. The former federal judge's finding was an indictment of his decision making, essentially telling him that he, too, needs to play by the rules and can't simply make them up as he goes along.

"The Commissioner is entitled to great deference in the review of his decisions … but review for abuse of discretion is not a rubber stamp approval," Jones wrote. "… Because Rice did not mislead the Commissioner and because there were no new facts on which the Commissioner could base his increased suspension, I find that the imposition of the indefinite suspension was arbitrary."

Jones also noted that this wasn't the first time Goodell has had to be pulled back in line.

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"In numerous cases reviewing discipline under Article 46, the hearing officer has decreased the discipline that the Commissioner imposed," she wrote.

Two months ago, Goodell was chastened enough by the outrage over the NFL's woeful response to domestic violence to promise that "nothing was off the table" – even ceding his role in the disciplinary process to a neutral arbitrator. But as the furor subsided, so apparently did Goodell's desire to come up with a workable system rather than the current dictatorial one, which only serves to keep the lawyers employed.

Until Goodell and the NFL owners allow for neutral arbitration, or some system that does not put all the disciplinary power in Goodell's hands, relations with the NFLPA will continue to be toxic. The players don't trust Goodell, and it's hard to blame them after watching him trample over basic legal rights in imposing punishments that seem more like payback.

"While we take no pleasure in seeing a decision that confirms what we have been saying about the Commissioner's office acting arbitrarily,we hope that this will bring the NFL owners to the collective bargaining table to fix a broken process," the NFLPA wrote in response to Jones' ruling.

"It is clear that this decision should force the NFL to embrace neutral arbitration as part of a necessary due process in all cases."

That's doubtful, as Goodell and the owners are likely to see giving up any of their power as a sign of weakness. But it's worth doing, if for no other reason than it would put the focus back on the field, where it belongs. The commissioner has been in the spotlight long enough.