D6 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2019
9:00: Brown and quarterback
Lamar Jackson, both products of
Florida’s Broward County, dap up.
Off the field, they have bonded
over their shared roots — and
appreciation of rapper Kodak
Black. On the field, their first
connection is on a five-yard curl
route. After that, a 10-yard out.
9:06: After Jackson overshoots
a short pass to Brown, they line up
for their final repetition of the
period. It’s a go route, and Brown
isn’t holding much back. But the
pass sails far overhead. “He’s fast,”
a fan nearby says, “but not that
fast.”
— Baltimore Sunwho catches his short, uncontest-
ed, over-the-shoulder pass nicely
and easily.
8:58: Another receiving drill,
but more difficult now: Brown
takes an outside release and
makes a one-handed catch, as
instructed. Fans ooh and aah.
8:59: Brown’s second go
through the drill isn’t as smooth.
The pass hits his right hand, then
falls to the grass. “We see the ball
on the ground, we coming back,”
Culley says as Brown circles back.
He ribs Brown: “It’s hard to drop
these balls. To drop these balls,
you got to be blind.” Brown catch-
es the next ball.tices, the third-round pick has
been the team’s most impressive
wide receiver. “I’m just trying to
feed off what he’s doing and, once
I’m on the field, complement him
as best as I can,” Brown said.
8:49: As positional drills start,
Brown moves with the team’s
wide receivers and assistant
coach David Culley to another
field. A handful of reporters fol-
lows him.
8:54: Brown’s the last of the
receivers to go through a simple
drill. A fan screams, “Hollywood!”
from the stands nearby as he
moves to his starting spot. “Nice
and easy,” Culley reminds Brown,same. Following him around the
field was akin to birdwatching:
Wait around long enough, and
you might see something interest-
ing. But first, be prepared to wait.
8:43 a.m.: His helmet in hand,
a purple Ravens bandanna across
his forehead, Brown walks out of
the team facility and onto the field
for practice. “Oh, man, I was very
excited,” he said afterward. “I’ve
been waiting on this.”
8:46: Standing at the front of a
line of stretching Ravens, Brown
warms up with the team. With his
helmet on, he is a head shorter
than fellow rookie and roommate
Miles Boykin. Through five prac-the foot fracture was inseparable
from Brown’s football career.
There was the January loss to
Alabama in the College Football
Playoff semifinals, in which he
played for Oklahoma through the
pain; the surgery he underwent to
address it; the predraft process,
where his foot’s health hung over
his every rise and fall; and finally
the offseason, where he couldn’t
do much at practice but wait.
Throughout the first week of
training camp, Brown had been
mostly stationary, limited to
catching passes. On Wednesday
morning, he did more. Not much
more, but it was progress, all theclose to a star player, which
makes a suspension futile. Fine
him? It is hard to dent a
billionaire’s wallet without
levying an unprecedented
penalty. My guess is this ends
with Kraft, after winning in court
and avoiding league punishment,
making a donation to an
organization that fights human
trafficking. He also might
champion rights to privacy in
some way.
Or he could walk away
arrogantly and do nothing. It
likely will be his prerogative. He
seems to have too much money
and influence to be denied.
On the other hand, Goodell
has more credibility to lose. His
record as a disciplinarian is
already laughable. Now it will be
perceived that he let an owner
skate in a situation that would
have warranted something more
punitive for a player who had
made such negative news.
Maybe that will inspire some
outrage. Maybe it won’t.
Here’s hoping the hypocrisy
stands out, however. There is no
personal conduct policy for every
NFL employee. It’s a player
conduct policy, and Goodell has
the permission to use it however
he chooses. If there’s any good
that can come from Kraft’s messy
incident, greater scrutiny of
Goodell’s inconsistent authority
would be a worthwhile
consolation.
[email protected]For more by Jerry Brewer, visit
washingtonpost.com/brewer.Goodell were to punish him and,
in effect, admonish his morality,
it could hinder Kraft realizing his
last great dream in life.
Goodell won’t do that to Kraft,
not unless someone leaks that
video. Goodell won’t do it
because he doesn’t need to do so.
Kraft was among the owners who
approved Goodell’s recent
$200 million extension. And
while Kraft is a high-profile
owner, his visibility doesn’t comethe Patriots have won and his
status as one of the NFL’s most
influential owners, his
contributions to the game merit
Hall of Fame induction.
In court, Kraft isn’t fighting to
stay out of jail because the
offense, no matter how awful
morally, is considered minor. He
is fighting to make sure no one
sees that video. He is fighting to
keep his hopes alive of making a
speech in Canton, Ohio. IfBY JONAS SHAFFERowings mills, md. — Marquise
“Hollywood” Brown had made the
walk onto the Baltimore Ravens’
practice field many times before.
He knew Wednesday’s would be
remembered differently, for ev-
erything that had happened be-
fore and everything that now lay
ahead.
A day earlier, the rookie wide
receiver and first-round draft pick
had been cleared to practice after
passing his physical, the last step
of rehabilitation from a Lisfranc
injury suffered in early December.
For nearly the next nine months,
comments about that. The
personal conduct policy is my
responsibility.”
Translation: He doesn’t have
the spine to challenge Kraft. Not
this time. Not after such an
embarrassing incident. Sure,
Goodell and Kraft went at it
during the ridiculous Deflategate
saga, and Kraft ended up paying
a $1 million fine. But this is
different. Kraft is 78 now, and
considering the six Super Bowlsbe much of a legal case against
Kraft.
In the Goodell kangaroo court,
several players have been
suspended despite avoiding legal
trouble. The conduct policy
includes language about
“conduct detrimental to the
integrity and public confidence”
in the league. It also says, “We
must endeavor at all times to be
people of high character; we
must show respect for others
inside and outside our
workplace; and we must strive to
conduct ourselves in ways that
favorably reflect on ourselves,
our teams, the communities we
represent, and the NFL.”
The policy is loose enough that
Goodell could punish Kraft
simply for putting himself in
such a shameful situation. Kraft
pleaded not guilty, but he also
apologized for the incident in
March, saying, “I am truly sorry. I
know I have hurt and
disappointed my family, my close
friends, my co-workers, our fans
and many others who rightfully
hold me to a higher standard.”
Goodell, who is essentially an
employee of the league’s owners,
will wait out the case. It could
take more than a year for legal
finality, which buys time for the
public to stop caring.
“When we get all the
information, we’ll make
determinations,” Goodell said in
May. “I’m not going to speculate
on where we are or my views on
anything. Until we get all the
information, we’re not to make
any discussions or anyexplosive the story is, and
Goodell will punish as much or
as little as he desires based on
public opinion.
It makes Roger Goodell, NFL
disciplinarian, the most
overhyped, self-important
concept in modern NFL history.
It’s just a role he plays, with
diminishing passion as the years
pass (example: his recent cop-out
on the Tyreek Hill child abuse
allegation). For proof of the farce,
watch carefully what happens —
or doesn’t happen — in the messy
solicitation case of New England
Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Goodell has made it clear this
offseason: He will not
prematurely punish Kraft, who
faces two misdemeanor charges
for allegedly paying for sexual
services at the Orchids of Asia
Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla. From the
beginning, it was unlikely Kraft
would serve any jail time for
being busted in a sting
operation. But since being
charged in February, he has put
together a superstar legal team
anyway, and his lawyers have
worked to expose flaws in a
sloppy police investigation and
to make video of Kraft’s alleged
misconduct inadmissible in
court.
The Kraft trial has been
postponed indefinitely.
Prosecutors are appealing a
judge’s decision that prevents
them from using the secretly
recorded videos. Without that
evidence, there doesn’t appear to
BREWER FROM D1
Think about past moves Rizzo
has made when the Nats were
desperate for bullpen help. In
2017, he dealt for back-end
relievers Doolittle and Madson on
July 16, two weeks before the
deadline. Last summer, he landed
former Kansas City closer Kelvin
Herrera on June 18, before the
market had really formed.
The current Nats’ bullpen has
been hard to watch since the
season began, and even recent
improvements left it, as
Wednesday dawned, with a
ghastly 5.99 ERA for the season.
That’s not just the worst in
baseball this year. Only one team
in the past half-century (the 2007
Tampa Bay Rays) had a higher
mark over the course of a season.
Think Rizzo didn’t notice that?
If he had any hair, he’d have
pulled it out long ago.
“In the past, we’ve done deals
early in the period,” Rizzo said.
This year, such an idea “was
almost on deaf ears. I think that
people wanted to wait till the
deadline.”
It didn’t mean he didn’t talk
about the issues internally.
“Every day,” Manager Dave
Martinez said. “Two or three
times a day. We are constantly
communicating, bouncing
different guys, back and forth....
I’ve told Rizz, ‘Hey, you’ve done
this for many, many years. If you
think we can get a player that can
help us, I’m all-in.’”
How much Hudson, Elías and
Strickland can and will help can’t
be known at the moment. The bet
is they are better than
“historically bad.” Given the
payroll constraints and a farm
system that has been thinned by
past trades, it’s about as good as
the Nats could have done. In
Rizzo’s world, there’s no
lamenting deals that got away or
couldn’t be pursued. He works for
one of the most difficult
ownership groups in baseball. His
team is 6^1 / 2 games behind the
Braves, battling for a wild-card
spot. His view: Bring on the new
guys, and step on the gas.
[email protected]For more by Barry Svrluga, visit
washingtonpost.com/svrluga.pitchers. But the thinking is right.
The Nats were limited this year by
odd circumstances: The more
ownership spent, the less it felt it
could spend. The “luxury” tax was
a factor in every player Rizzo
targeted, every conversation he
had.
“What limits who you can
target is what you want to give up
for the player and what they’re
making,” Rizzo said. “So yeah, it
limited us to an extent.”
Rizzo must deal with a very
involved and opinionated
ownership group while
simultaneously leading a baseball
operations staff through what
several executives described as an
unprecedented trade deadline
period — the first “hard”
deadline, with no waiver-wire
deals to come over the following
month. The market was stalled.
This was unfamiliar territory.clock. That creates a difficult
dynamic: Improve the team
without spending more money.
Oh, and given you have made so
many trades to improve past
contenders, don’t yield top
prospects Carter Kieboom and
Luis Garcia.
Yet given the enormous
investment in starting pitchers
Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg
and Patrick Corbin, the Nats
aren’t really in position to just lie
down and watch the (very good)
Braves not only win two of three
here to extend their lead in the
division, but also get better by
adding players (closer Shane
Greene and Melancon) and
payroll. As one member of the
Nats organization put it, “When
you spend $500 million on three
pitchers, I’d hope you’d want to
try to win.”
Try $545 million on those threethat a big deal for teams that are
spending $200 million on
players?
The tax, though, played a role
in this trade deadline for Rizzo
and the Nats — in part because
they didn’t get under it during
last year’s disappointing season.
In the big picture, the Lerners
have spent, a lot. In 2018, just two
teams exceeded the threshold:
the (world champion) Boston Red
Sox and the (82-80) Nats. In 2017,
Washington was over as well. Go
over for a third straight year, and
the tax rate rises to 50 percent —
so $5 million for every $10 million
over. Once a team spends a year
under the threshold, its clock
resets, and it would be back to the
20 percent tax the next time it
goes over.
The goal all offseason, Rizzo
reiterated Wednesday, was to stay
under the threshold, to reset theshipped FedEx or go ground via
the Postal Service. (They have
weighed in on all these issues in
the past.) When deals are being
made, members of the ownership
group drift in and out of the
baseball operations department’s
workspace, people with
knowledge of the Nats’ dynamics
said.
That’s fine. It’s their team. And
because it’s their team, they could
dictate that this season, the
Nationals would not exceed
MLB’s competitive balance
threshold — which, for 2019, is a
payroll of $206 million. I’ve
always argued that a club saying
it can’t add players because of the
competitive balance tax is folly,
because teams are taxed only on
the overage, and the first time you
go over it’s at a rate of 20 percent.
Blow by it by $10 million, and it
costs you $2 million more? Why isthings rolling.”
That is what Rizzo does: He
publicly expresses no doubts
about moves made, about the
players he has, about the team the
Nationals field. These moves
aren’t sexy enough for you? Fine.
Get out of the way. We’re stepping
on the gas.
The 2019 trade deadline — at
which the Nationals acquired
right-handers Daniel Hudson and
Hunter Strickland and lefty
Roenis Elías — likely won’t define
Rizzo’s tenure in Washington. He
has made splashier acquisitions
(Mark Melancon, Sean Doolittle
and Ryan Madson, heck,
Jonathan Papelbon) at deadlines
gone by.
“These aren’t the sexiest names
in the trade market,” Rizzo
allowed, and it’s true.
But trade deadlines,
offseasons, even the tiniest
transactions are reminders of the
environment in which Rizzo
works. It’s unlike any in baseball.
Here’s one assessment, from an
opposing general manager during
a conversation earlier in the
season: The two heads of baseball
operations departments who
have the toughest jobs “managing
up” — read: dealing with difficult
ownership groups — are Brian
Cashman of the New York
Yankees and Mike Rizzo of the
Nationals. Cashman has dealt
with all manner of Steinbrenners
for two decades and managed to
survive and thrive in the job.
If the demands on Rizzo are in
that same class, it’s heady
company.
“And Mike’s job might be
harder,” this general manager
said.
Since then, I’ve bounced that
idea off three other high-ranking
executives from other clubs. The
consensus: Hmmm, hadn’t
thought of it that way, but it
sounds exactly right.
The Lerner family certainly has
the right to determine what it
shells out in payroll to players,
not to mention whether the
minor league coaching staffs have
all the stopwatches they want or
whether a document should be
SVRLUGA FROM D1
BARRY SVRLUGA
MLB trade deadline is another reminder of what Rizzo faces
JERRY BREWER
Kraft case proves NFL commissioner doesn’t care about integrity or consistency
GREG FIUME/GETTY IMAGES
Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo, left, made moves at the deadline to bolster the team’s bullpen, which has struggled this season.ROBERT DEUTSCH/USA TODAY SPORTS
Commissioner Roger Goodell has not punished Patriots owner Robert Kraft in his solicitation case.Once upon a time, with ‘Hollywood’: Ravens rookie Brown has first practice