NFL owners voted 31-1 on Tuesday to permit their compensation committee to open negotiations on a new contract with commissioner Roger Goodell, but not before two of the league’s most powerful owners, the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones and New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft, engaged in a heated exchange, multiple league and ownership sources told ESPN.
The sources said Kraft joined the overwhelming majority in strong support for the measure, with Jones the lone dissenter in the owners-only session, eventually telling Kraft, “Don’t f— with me.”
Kraft replied, “Excuse me?”
“Don’t mess with me,” Jones said.
Jones is concerned that the triggers for Goodell’s proposed bonus pool in a new contract will be too vague and not connected to a strict set of financial goals and metrics without a more rigorous review, sources said.