During his annual Super Bowl press conference on Wednesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL will try and help embattled receiver Antonio Brown. As 2019 came to a close, Brown was accused of sexual misconduct and rape by two women. The troubled former star has not played since early in the season, and has since been involved in a string of incidents, including getting arrested after he was accused of battery and burglary. Despite his issues, Goodell said it's important that the league helps Brown get "on the right track."
"I think the first thing for all of us is to think about the wellbeing of Antonio. To understand what Antonio's going through," Goodell said at the press conference. "We don't talk about the wellness of our players publicly but I would tell you that you can be assured that the NFL and the NFL Players Association have a tremendous amount of resources that are available to all players. They are going to be made available to Antonio."
Goodell stopped short of welcoming Brown back into the league, but did say that the NFL wants to put him in a position to succeed. "We want to help get him on the right track and get him in a position where he is in the zone where he thinks he can be successful in life," Goodell continued. "We are confident that can happen. We want to work to do that and for our standpoint, that's the first step... and the first step is making sure we're doing everything to help Antonio."
Elsewhere during the presser, Goodell also addressed the shortage of minority hires among the league's coaching ranks. Over the past three years, only two African-American coaches have been hired for a head coaching spot. Meanwhile, 30 of the league's 32 general managers are white. "It's clear we need to change and do something different," he said. "There's no reason to think we'll have a different outcome next year without those changes."
Additionally, he revealed that there will be tributes to both Kobe Bryant and Chris Doleman on Sunday, although he didn't provide any further details.
