NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is making the rounds of NFL camps, and he showed up at one of the league’s most remote sites Thursday to meet with the Bears and the Rams.
But two of the biggest questions he faced were about former NFL players Ricky Williams and Quincy Carter.
Tagliabue declined to comment on Carter, who was the Dallas Cowboys’ starting quarterback until they released him Wednesday amid reports, which Carter denied, that he was involved with drugs.
But Tagliabue, who is traveling with Art Shell and Gene Washington, said he had a “sense of loss” about Williams’ retirement from the Miami Dolphins, citing his work with youth football programs.
On other issues, Tagliabue said:
– The NFL is still considering scheduling two Monday night games weekly to give viewers a better chance of seeing a meaningful late-season game. But the flexible scheduling concept, under which games would be moved from Sunday, is out.
– A decision on getting a team in Los Angeles, which the Rams left in 1995, remains on hold as the league talks to officials at the Rose Bowl, the Coliseum and in Carson, Calif.
Tagliabue, Shell and Washington shared a light moment with Bears cornerback Charles Tillman at the dining hall. Tillman pulled out his camcorder to get shots of himself with all three, kidding Washington, “You’re the one changing all the rules,” a reference to the NFL’s decision to crack down on cornerbacks’ use of their hands.
“This is your chance to get some goodwill,” Tagliabue told Tillman.
“They’re all my friends,” Tillman said. “And I have it on film to prove it.”
