New report says "many . . . casually refer" to Roger Goodell as a "bully"

The 2025 season marks Commissioner Roger Goodell’s 20th in the job. And there’s no indication that he’ll be walking away any time soon.

To commemorate Year 20 for Goodell as the man whose John Hancock appears on every football, SI.com took a deep dive into the man who has both guided the league to unprecedented wealth and managed to avoid many/any serious threats to his indefinite tenure.

Here’s one tidbit that stands out in the article from Albert Breer: "[M]any colleagues, adversaries and associates casually refer to [Goodell] as a bully. One well-respected decision-maker from a 2024 playoff team asserted it’s even worse: ‘He’s a silver spoon senator’s son who thinks he’s a bully. But he’s really not.’”

It’s a fairly damning assessment. And the reporting includes enough tidbits to narrow the universe of potential sources. Fourteen teams make the playoffs; the quote came from one of those teams. And the person is a “well-respected decision maker,” which points to a more established and well-known name.

It’s unclear what “decision maker” means. Probably not the coach. Probably not the owner. Maybe the G.M.

Whoever it is, chances are Goodell has spent a little time since the story landed trying to figure it out.

Still, whatever Goodell is doing, it’s working. The league is closing in on his longstanding goal to get to $25 billion in annual revenue by 2027. And there’s no clear successor who could come in and steer the ship the way Goodell has.

It remains to be seen how much longer Goodell, 66, stays on the job. Presumably, the league will be looking for another long-term captain when the time comes to hire only its fourth Commissioner since the final year of the Eisenhower administration.

Since January 1960, the NFL has had only three commissioners: Pete Rozelle, Paul Tagliabue, and Goodell. If Goodell finishes the current decade in the job, that’ll be three leaders in seventy years.

That continuity in the sport’s most important position surely has helped the NFL to become the force it now is.