The NFL and the Players Association are working toward a deal that will limit Roger Goodell's power when it comes to handing out discipline for off-the-field issues, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The report points out, however, that "no deal has been reached, significant obstacles remain, and any potential deal will not happen soon."
Still, the union is hopeful that something will get done In order to alter the process spelled out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, by which the NFL commissioner -- in this case Goodell -- has the ultimate say in how a player is punished.
One solution that the Wall Street Journal highlighted called for three neutral arbitrators, lawyers or former judges, with "some background in football."
Goodell has, in the past, expressed a willingness to alter his role, telling ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike that the process is "extremely time consuming" for him.
The report points out that "three times in the past year-and-a-half, Goodell’s decisions in the high profile cases of Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, and Tom Brady have been overturned in court or by a retired judge who served as an arbitrator. In the Brady and Peterson cases, the NFL appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Second and Eighth circuits, respectively."
If an agreement is to be reached NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith explained that he believes players will want all ongoing appeals settled as a result.
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"It’s a player decision with what they want to do, but I can’t imagine there is any appetite to agree with any proposal that doesn’t wrap up all the litigation,” Smith said. “We can either continue to litigate or reach a collectively bargained conclusion.”