The Washington Post - 27.03.2020

FRIDAy, MARCH 27 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ sU C9

FROM NEWS SERVICES AND STAFF REPORTS

Commissioner Roger Goodell
officially informed teams Thurs-
day that the N FL draft will be held
as scheduled n ext month.
Goodell sent a memo to the
teams after the owners’ labor ne-
gotiating committee, the Manage-
ment Council Executive Commit-
tee ( known within the s port as t he
CEC) reaffirmed the draft should
occur April 23-25 without post-
ponement.
The committee, headed by New
York Giants co-owner John Mara,
was “unanimous and unequivo-
cal” that the draft should not be
pushed back, Goodell wrote.
“A part from the CEC, I have
personally discussed this matter
with many other owners, club ex-
ecutives and coaches, and there is
widespread support for the CEC’s
conclusion,” Goodell wrote in the
memo, a copy of which was ob-
tained by The Washington Post.
“Everyone recognizes that public
health conditions are highly un-
certain and there is no assurance
that we can select a different date
and be confident that conditions
will be significantly more favor-
able than they are today. I also
believe that the Draft can serve a
very positive purpose for our
clubs, our fans, and the country at
large, and many of you have
agreed.”
Goodell and the league office
were unwavering in their belief
that the draft should be held as
scheduled, even after a committee
of general managers recommend-
ed to the NFL this week that it
should be postponed. The GMs
were concerned about disruptions
to teams’ preparations for the
draft because of the novel corona-
virus pandemic.
— Mark M aske
l SAINTS: With the coronavi-
rus taking hold in New Orleans
and Louisiana, Saints quarter-
back Drew Brees and his wife
pledged $5 million to help “our
communities get through this
tough time.”
“A fter considerable research
and c onversations with local orga-
nizations, we will be mobilizing
our partnerships with Second
Harvest Food Bank, Ochsner
Health Systems, Walk-Ons, Jim-
my Johns, Smalls Sliders and
Waitr to prepare and deliver over
10,000 meals per day throughout
Louisiana for as long as it takes to
children on meal programs, se-
niors, and families in need. Let’s
all do our part, m aintain hope, a nd
get through this together,” he
wrote on Instagram.
— Cindy B oren
l BUCCANEERS: Ta mpa Bay
continues to reassemble pieces to
help To m Brady be s uccessful with
his new team.
Keeping an improved defense
together was one of the club’s top
priorities in free agency. Re-sign-
ing tackle Ndamukong Suh to a
one-year, $8 million contract en-
sures the entire front seven will
remain i ntact for next season.
Suh, whose s treak of 131 consec-
utive starts is the longest among
NFL defensive linemen, had
41 tackles, 14 q uarterback hits a nd
2.5 sacks in his first year with the
Bucs.
l JAGUARS: Jacksonville and
cornerback Darqueze Dennard
pa rted w ays nine days after a gree-
ing to a three-year, $13.5 million
contract in f ree agency.
The Jaguars said Thursday “ the
two sides could not come to an
agreement on the final contract
terms.”
Dennard agreed to the deal
March 17, the night before the
official start of the new league
year. The contract included
$6 million guaranteed.
But it never got signed, and the
Jaguars d ecided to move o n.
l COLTS: Indianapolis signed
free agent c ornerback Xavier Rho-
des, adding another potentially
key piece to their defense.
Rhodes agreed to a one-year
deal, a person familiar with the
situation told the Associated
Press.
The seven-year veteran has
spent his entire career with Min-
nesota after the Vikings took him
in the first round of t he 2013 draft.
l BILLS: Buffalo is giving oft-
injured cornerback E.J. Gaines a
third opportunity to resume his
career by agreeing to a one-year
contract.
Buffalo also agreed to a deal
with offensive lineman Daryl Wil-
liams.
l RAVENS: Baltimore signed
long snapper Nick Moore, the f irst
XFL player to join the franchise
since the league restarted this
year.
— Associated Press

NFL NOTES

Goodell:

Draft is set

to go on as

scheduled

BY LES CARPENTER AND SAM FORTIER

The long standoff between Trent Williams and the Washing- ton Redskins took yet another turn Thursday, when the star left tackle’s agent said “there is no relationship” between his client and new Redskins coach Ron Rivera. The agent repeated demands that Washington trade or release Williams — demands that surprised the Redskins when they were first made shortly after Wil- liams and Rivera met last month. Speaking on 106.7 the Fan’s “Grant & Danny” radio show, Williams’s agent, Vince Ta ylor, said that he had reached an agreement on a contract extension with a team interested in trading for Williams but i t fell through because Redskins management was erratic in what it was asking for in return. Ta ylor said other teams have told him that Wash- ington’s front office “doesn’t know what it’s doing” when it comes to requesting trade terms for Williams after the team told Williams this month he could seek a trade. Ta ylor offered the most com- plete account of why Williams is asking again for a trade — con- tinuing a 10-month dispute that began in part because of Wil- liams’s belief that team doctors did not properly diagnose a growth on his scalp that turned out to be cancerous — following a meeting in mid-February with

Rivera at the Redskins’ practice facility. He said Williams was initially encouraged when owner Daniel Snyder fired team president Bruce Allen and hired Rivera at season’s end and was hopeful he could have a new start with Washington under Rivera. But Ta ylor said Williams be- came frustrated when January dragged by and Rivera had not set up a meeting. Ta ylor said he had to make several calls before an appointment was set up while Rivera and his new staff settled in and assessed the roster they had inherited. Ta ylor and Williams were upset that Rivera welcomed free agent tight end Greg Olsen to

the facility for a visit in the days after the Carolina Panthers had cut Olsen, choosing — in their opinion — to talk to a player Rivera had coached in Carolina before he met with Williams, who had been with the Redskins for all of his 10 NFL seasons. Ta ylor described Williams as being disappointed after he and Rivera met for roughly 15 minutes in Rivera’s office. “He realized there is no relationship,” Taylor said. “Ron, in essence, wanted him to prove himself. ‘Prove yourself.’ A nd then the nostalgia of everything that has happened [in Williams’s Red- skins tenure], he realized that

there’s no relationship here. It’s better for us to part ways.” Soon after, Ta ylor said, he re- newed last June’s demand that the team trade Williams. Williams’s demands surprised Rivera and the Redskins’ front office, a person with knowledge of the situation said. Rivera, who was said to have made recruiting Williams back to the team one of his early priorities, came away from the meeting with Williams believing it was “cordial” and the start of a relationship that would build over the coming weeks, according to the person. Rivera has said publicly that because he doesn’t know any of the players from last season’s team, he wants them to come to offseason workouts to show they will buy into the culture he hopes to build before considering making a long-term commitment to them. The Redskins were shocked when Ta ylor called a few days after the meeting and said, “If you aren’t g oing to extend [Williams’s contract], then trade him,” the person said, adding that Ta ylor told Washington officials that Williams will not play for them. On the radio, Ta ylor appeared to dispute this, saying neither he nor Williams has asked the Red- skins for money on top of the $14.5 million he is owed on the final season of a five-year, $66 million extension he signed in 2015. Ta ylor also attacked reports that said Williams is looking for a new contract that would

pay him as much as $19 million per year. “It’s never been about the contract,” Taylor said. Later, he answered a hypothet- ical question by saying Williams would consider a contract from another team worth $16 million per year. He also implied that he negoti- ated with at least one team and reached some kind of an under- standing on a deal. And while he would not identify the team or describe the contract, he did com- plain that the team has not been able to come to an agreement with Washington because, he said, Rivera and the front office kept changing their requests for what the Redskins would receive in return. The Cleveland Browns, one of a handful of teams with a need at left tackle, are reported to be interested in Williams. The Redskins are asking for a second-round pick for Williams, multiple people with knowledge of the situation said, but told teams they are willing to be cre- ative in finding ways to match the value of a second-round choice, one person said, by packing several selections together or adding in players. “They are not going to give away a blue-chip player at one of the most important positions for a fifth- or sixth-round pick,” the person said. [email protected] [email protected]

Williams’s agent repeats trade demands, criticizes front o∞ce

JoHn McDonnell/tHe wAsHIngton Post The agent for Trent Williams said the tackle has “no relationship” with Redskins Coach Ron Rivera despite their meeting last month.

Williams: “Trent Williams will always love and r espect Dan Snyder.” So if A llen i s done and Hess is gone, is there a new beef here? And if so, who started it? Ron Rivera i s the n ew h ead coach who has b een given extraordinary power over all football aspects of the o rganization. Rivera’s reputation w ouldn’t i ndicate that he’s p rone t o picking unwarranted fights, and he knows his team i s better with Williams than without him. It n ow feels as if Williams wants out of Washington regardless o f who’s h ere. He w as upset that Rivera hosted f ree agent t ight end Greg Olsen, who played f or Rivera with Carolina, before meeting w ith Williams? That m ight be true. If so, it’s p etty. Rivera is here to fundamentally change the culture. We c an debate, given Snyder’s p resence, whether that’s possible. But he should a t least be allowed to try — w ith his best players and best leaders on board. Williams, as much as anyone, should understand that change was needed — a nd desperately. If it has “never been about the contract,” w hy n ot jump on board? Rivera’s presence and A llen’s absence p ut Washington in a different position than it has been in more t han a decade. It’s possible n ow, when controversy arises, t hat the franchise i s actually in t he right. T he d efault mode for so l ong has been, “ How are the R edskins m essing this up?” a nd n o doubt there will b e cases o f that to come because t he owner remains t he same and chaos somehow s eems baked into the D NA i n Ashburn. But i f the c hoice of Rivera as both coach and football c zar was meant t o pivot the franchise, it’s working o n at l east one l evel. Rivera is respected p erhaps more for t he way he c onducts h imself than for his f ootball acumen. That allows us to get to a point in this team-vs.-tackle f iasco in which i t’s possible t o believe that the t eam is acting r easonably and Trent Williams, i n fact, should reassess his stance and look more reasonably at h is s ituation. [email protected]

For more by Barry svrluga, visit washingtonpost.com/svrluga.

Allen, that w as believable. Now, with a new regime in p lace, it’s just not. Back to the difficulties o f moving Williams: According to the w ebsite overthecap.com, only four offensive linemen in the NFL have contracts t hat average as much as $16 m illion. Would it be considered prudent football business for a team to give u p a draft pick o r picks for a player who hadn’t played in a year — a nd averaged more than f our g ames missed in t he three seasons before that — and t hen shell out a record-setting deal a s well? No, it wouldn’t. Under the old Washington hierarchy, t here was plenty of room to sympathize with Williams’s side, particularly given the dodgy medical issue that created frustration not just for Williams but for other R edskins in an era when the team dealt with all manner of injuries. But now, not only is Allen out as ringleader, but Larry Hess, the head athletic trainer who had been with the team for 17 y ears, also was fired. Daniel S nyder remains as owner, right? No o ne w ould be surprised if t here were l ingering resentment there. Except in Ta ylor’s s tatement Tuesday, h e names o nly o ne person other than

move Williams last offseason, when the relationship w as clearly sour, r ather t han engaging h is team’s s tar l ineman i n a game of chicken. T hat opportunity is gone, and i t’s worth n either time nor e nergy. One s ticking point to a trade, particularly once Washington granted Williams the right to try to find a partner, that was easy t o presume: Williams wanted a lucrative long-term e xtension. He has one year and $ 14.5 million remaining on the five-year, $66 m illion c ontract t hat made him the h ighest-paid o ffensive tackle i n history. A n easy glitch about which t o speculate: No team was willing to meet his demands. But o n 106.7 the Fan on Thursday, Taylor told hosts G rant Paulsen and D anny Rouhier he had n ot sought new money f rom Washington a nd that Williams wasn’t looking at r ecord-setting, $19 m illion s alaries s ome had reported. Rather, Ta ylor indicated Williams would be w illing to play for a new t eam at a bout $16 m illion a year. “It’s never b een about t he contract,” Taylor said. Back when this seemed t o be over the medical m isdiagnosis and a fractured relationship with

differences, Washington was unable ( or unwilling) to negotiate a trade of Williams,” Taylor wrote. “... Williams’ representatives provided the t eam w ith t rading options, b ut the Redskins h ave shown n o interest in negotiating in good f aith and, i n fact, have given inconsistent demands o n what it wants in return for a trade.” In t he Thursday i nterview on 106.7 the Fan’s “Grant & Danny” show, Ta ylor s aid he found a club that wanted Williams, a nd he reiterated the idea that Washington w affled in w hat it wanted in r eturn. B ut here’s t he thing: A ny t rade partner knows Washington h as l ittle l everage here, given t he acrimony b etween the p layer and the team. T here are a limited n umber o f teams with needs for a left t ackle, whittling the n umber of potential trade p artners t o start. The upcoming draft is heavy with t op- tier tackle prospects, so there are cheaper, younger models available. There’s no hope for Washington t o get what Williams, in his prime, would have b een worth. Blame that o n the o usted regime of B ruce A llen, the former team president, if you want. Allen could have aggressively tried to

It u sed t o be easy to pick a side in this Trent Williams-vs.- Washington Redskins saga. Williams had l ived through a nd even thrived i n all the drama that comes with working in Ashburn. He provided consistency for an organization that redefined turbulence. He played h urt when others would have sat. When t he team’s slapstick medical staff misdiagnosed what t urned o ut to be a cancerous growth o n Williams’s head, w ell, the c hoice was o bvious: Trent > team. So when Williams’s agent issued a statement Tuesday claiming, a mong other things, “the R edskins h ave shown n o interest in negotiating in good faith,” i t seemed somewhere between believable and likely. On Thursday, t he a gent, Vince Ta ylor, doubled down in a radio interview, saying there’s “ no relationship” b etween Williams and n ew Washington c oach Ron Rivera. S ince mayhem has l ong ruled Washington’s o perations, both claims were believable. Why would it change now? Except i t has changed. And that makes Ta ylor’s i ndignance on behalf o f Williams — i n which h e demands Washington trade or release him — b oth u nfounded and u nbecoming. When and i f Trent Williams plays his next c ompetitive snap of football, he w ill be 32. His most recent action came on the s econd- to-last day of 2018. He l ast played as many as 14 g ames i n 2015, last played a full season in 2 013, j ust one o f three seasons i n a 10-year career i n which h e didn’t m iss at least s ome time with injury. Is i t realistic for a player with that résumé — e ven with seven Pro Bowl a ppearances — t o believe he’s w orthy of being among the h ighest-paid o ffensive linemen in t he NFL for y ears to come? I t’s not. Ye t that, apparently, is what Williams hopes to be. Washington granted Williams and his representatives the r ight to seek a trade. In h is statement, Taylor, the agent, questioned the sincerity of that action. “Despite its irreconcilable

In b attle between Redskins and tackle, it is harder to choose a side

Barry Svrluga

JonAtHAn newton/tHe wAsHIngton Post Fans didn’t get to see Trent Williams on the field last season, which the tackle sat out in a dispute.

BY KAREEM COPELAND

The WNBA will hold its draft April 17 as originally scheduled, the l eague said Thursday, e ven a s it continues to examine whether the novel coronavirus pandemic will affect the scheduled opening of training camps later next month and the start of the regular season in May. The regular season isn’t set to begin until May 15, so the pandemic has not affected daily operations as much as in other professional leagues. The WNBA, however, has been evaluating its schedule, with training camps slated to begin April 26. “One, with the prospects in mind, this would be a dream for

them to, hopefully, be drafted into the WNBA,” Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “The draft- ees, the prospects, deserve to be drafted like they would have been. We also have teams strate- gizing around their rosters. I think this is the fairest way to do it as we planned.” Underclassmen must declare their intentions to e nter the draft 10 days before the event, so the league wanted to announce its decision as early as possible to give them a clear timetable. The NCAA canceled the rest of its winter and spring sports seasons but has yet to announce how it will handle eligibility issues. En- gelbert said she is optimistic the NCAA will decide before the end

of the month. The WNBA draft will be held without players, guests or media in attendance but will air live on ESPN2 beginning at 8 p.m. En- gelbert will announce the picks. Individual teams are expected to have virtual draft rooms online and will continue to call in their picks as in previous years. The NFL plans t o hold its d raft as scheduled beginning April 23 but without any live events sur- rounding it. There are some concerns within the NFL leading up to the draft about teams’ inability to conduct physicals or workouts for players. The WNBA doesn’t have that issue because its draft is typically held shortly after the NCAA Final Four, which

this year would have ended April 5. “With technology today, e very- body has the same access to technology and data,” Engelbert said. “No concerns at all.” The league is still evaluating its o ptions as training camps and the regular season approach. “We have some time to put forth all the various scenario plans for medical safety, physical health, training,” Engelbert said. “So we have a little more time than those who had to suspend their seasons. As we scenario- plan this all out, and we have been doing that for a couple weeks, these are on the list: making sure that when we return we have a plan-to-play pro-

tocol, that we’re getting the right advice from infectious-disease and other physicians o n staff and we have all the right protocols around quarantining and testing and whatever happens over the next couple weeks.” The league also announced plans to honor Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and Gianna’s youth basketball teammates Al- yssa Altobelli a nd Payton Chester at the draft. They were among the victims in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles on Jan. 26. Bryant had become a vocal advo- cate for women’s basketball in recent years, and Gianna had hoped to play college ball at the University of Connecticut. [email protected]

WNBA announces it plans to hold draft as scheduled next month

The Washington Post - 27.03.2020

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