NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell covered a lot of ground in a short visit to Redskins Park on Wednesday.
He met with players, with fans, with the media. He spoke with Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth, who is still not practicing with the team due to a knee injury and his failure to pass a conditioning test.
He packed a lot into his time in a sweltering hospitality tent adjacent to the practice field.
Goodell field a number of questions about the NFL's labor situation, with the collective bargaining agreement ending after this season.
He would not define one issue as more pressing than another but included these among the key ones:
-- Shortening the preseason and expanding the regular season: "The players don't like playing in them and fans don't like them," he said. He did not foresee a shortened preseason as soon as 2011, however.
-- A rookie wage scale: Goodell said the current system "is broken. I think it needs to be fixed. I think we need to pay the people who have done it on the NFL field."
-- A Super Bowl at FedExField: "The fans are terrific and I have no doubt it would be successful," he said. However, no Super Bowl has yet been played in winter weather and the 2014 game in New Jersey will be the first. Goodell called that "a big step" and set not timetable for considering Washington, D.C. He said the liked games "in the elements."
He also mentioned meeting with Redskins receiver Santana Moss, who has been linked to a Canadian doctor who faces federal charges of smuggling and illegally providing human growth hormone to athletes.
Goodell said the NFL is focusing on the investigation but downplayed the potential for a suspension of Moss.
"I'd like to know the facts first," Goodell said.
He said he had no plans to intervene in the Haynesworth matter, saying, "I don't look for things to do."
He added: "Albert wants to play football. He wants to get out there. He needs to get in proper shape."
Goodell is hitting seven NFL training camps, traveling with John Madden on the Madden cruiser bus.
They were at the Baltimore Ravens' camp in Westminster, Md., earlier on Wednesday and conclude their journey in Canton, Ohio, for the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions. Among the honorees is former Redskins guard Russ Grimm.
Goodell called Grimm, now assistant head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, "a great individual, a great player. You know how much he meant to the Redskins' success in those years."
Grimm played 11 seasons with the Redskins and in four Super Bowls (three wins) and was voted to the Pro Bowl four consecutive seasons.
Larry Weisman, an award-winning journalist during 25 years with USA TODAY, writes for Redskins.com and appears nightly on Redskins Nation on Comcast SportsNet. Read his Redskinsblitz blog at **Redskinsrule.com* and follow him on *Twitter.com/LarryWeisman*.*
