Roger Goodell: NFL 'protecting' women who came forward in WFT probe, so no plan to share more information

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday that he does not believe there is a way to release additional information about the league's investigation into the Washington Football Team, citing the fact that some former female employees spoke to investigators on the condition of anonymity.

In a news conference on the first day of NFL owners meetings in New York, Goodell said he believed the league did the right thing by not soliciting a written report on the probe, which substantiated claims of a toxic work culture and pervasive sexual harassment in Washington under owner Daniel Snyder. And he reiterated that the NFL does not plan to publicly release additional information about the investigation, despite calls to do so.

"We're very conscious of making sure that we're protecting those that came forward," Goodell said. "They were incredibly brave, incredibly open and we respect the pain that they probably went through all over again to come forward."

Goodell's comments echoed previous statements from the league but also raised eyebrows given that, just a few hours earlier, some of the same women the commissioner claimed to be protecting delivered a letter to NFL owners, urging them to release more information about the probe.

One of the women, Rachel Engleson, also rebuked Goodell on Twitter shortly after his news conference ended.

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"We were told our identities would be kept confidential in a written report," Engleson wrote. "Meaning, if I spoke about something that happened to me, there would be no way Dan or others could trace the info back to me. Not that there would be no written report. C'mon."

The league's handling of the WFT investigation, which was conducted by lawyer Beth Wilkinson, has come under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks after emails obtained as part of the probe were leaked to media outlets.

The emails showed Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden using racist, homophobic and misogynistic language in exchanges with then-WFT executive Bruce Allen between 2011 and 2018, when Gruden was working at ESPN. Gruden has since resigned as coach of the Raiders. (Allen was fired in 2019.)

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The Gruden emails prompted questions about what might be in the other emails the NFL obtained as part of the WFT investigation, and why the league declined to release a written report as it has in past external probes.

Two House Democrats have even since taken interest in the matter, asking the NFL to turn over documents and provide information about the probe by Nov. 4.

Goodell said Tuesday that the league will be "cooperative" and has been in touch with the offices of the two Congresspeople: Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois.

Goodell also defended the sanctions doled out by the NFL in the WFT matter, and said he thinks that Snyder has been sufficiently punished. The team was fined $10 million, and Snyder agreed to temporarily cede control of the day-to-day operations to his wife, Tanya.

"I do think he's been held accountable for it. And that the organization has been held accountable," Goodell said Tuesday. "I think we've given an unprecedented fine. Dan Snyder has not been involved with the organization for now almost four months. And we obviously are focused more on making sure that policies they had – many of which they put in place prior to this investigation, but also coming out of it – were put into place and that they will be maintained."

When asked directly whether there is any way the league could release additional information about the findings of the investigation, perhaps by redacting the names of those involved, Goodell said "we don't think so."

"We feel that this is the appropriate way to do it," he said. "We summarized the findings of (the investigation) and made it very clear that the workplace environment at the Washington Football Team is not what we expect in the NFL. And then held them accountable for that."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.