Nearly two years ago, in the wake of the NFL’s probe into sexual harassment and discrimination claims against then-Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, independent investigator Mary Jo White presented commissioner Roger Goodell with a set of recommendations to help root out workplace abuses. Layered inside them, White targeted a tool that Richardson employed to buy silence and shield a rotting culture from the league and general public.
Non-disclosure agreements.
It was one of the dirty little tools the public became very familiar with during the #MeToo era, getting exposed multiple times in stories that detailed abuses in Hollywood, corporate America, politics, and as it turned out, inside the NFL’s Panthers.