Roger Goodell was asked about whether the NFL would get involved with facilitating an opportunity for Colin Kaepernick to sign with a team in 2018.

"I've been very clear on this before that all the clubs, individually, have to make their own decisions about who's on the roster, who's not on the roster," Goodell said. "Colin, as you know, has filed a grievance, so I'm not going to talk specifically about that case. But I think that's something that the clubs have to make -- that decision. We as a league, do not get involved in that in any way. So I don't anticipate that in any way."

Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem before games during the 2016 season to protest racial inequality and other social injustices. 

The NFL and NFLPA has cleared the Panthers from any wrongdoing in regards to how they handled a potential concussion suffered by Cam Newton on Jan. 7th.

Newton went down awkwardly because of a right knee injury the Panthers evaluated during the third quarter, according to the NFL’s statement.

An MRI of Newton’s knee the day after the game revealed ligament and cartilage damage and “very extensive swelling,” according to the league.

Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, told the Observer that Newton could not fully bend his right knee, which caused him to go to the ground “in a somewhat awkward fashion.”

But Sills said Newton did not show any of the signs that would have warranted a locker room evaluation.

“Gross motor instability does not mean that you take a knee and go to the ground. Gross motor instability is reflective of dysfunction of the cerebellum, the balance center in the brain, where someone cannot even keep a vertical posture. And that’s clearly not what happened in this case,” Sills said in a phone interview.

“It’s very straightforward. There was no gross motor instability here,” Sills added. “He voluntarily went to the ground at the direction of the coaching staff, and he had a knee injury that prevented him from doing so in a standard manner.

“It was never our intent that every player who takes a knee on the field needs a concussion evaluation in the locker room. That’s not what gross motor instability means.”

NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said Newton’s situation against the Saints highlights the challenges media members and “armchair experts” face when expressing their concerns over player safety.

“People are making judgments about this without all the facts and without a full understanding of some of the medical determinations that are made,” Lockhart told the Observer.

“Sitting at home watching it on TV without a full understanding of this and without the medical background leaves you in a place where you should not draw conclusions and you should wait for all the facts.”

The NFL's ratings for the Conference Championships were down more than eight percent compared to lat year.

This year's divisional championship round had seen a 16 percent dip in audience size.

The Patriots' win over the Jaguars reached 44.1 million viewers, while Philadelphia's blow out of Minnesota reached 42.3 million.

The Conference Championships only featured one household name at quarterback in Tom Brady.

Joe Lockhart is stepping down as chief spokesman of the NFL. Lockhart had served as the NFL’s executive vice president of communications and public affairs.

Lockhart told members of his staff he is stepping aside after the Super Bowl to spend more time with his family, do political commentary and perhaps teach.

While Lockhart is being forced out, his exit comes after another tumultuous 2017 NFL season in which Roger Goodell's extension was delayed by Jerry Jones, and Donald Trump feuded publicly with the league.

“He was brought in as an agent of change,” said one person familiar with the league’s inner workings. “He has a young family. I don’t think he was prepared to commit four or five more years to doing this.”

The NFL's television ratings for the divisional round playoff games were down 16 percent compared to last season.

The weekend's four games averaged 30.43 million viewers, off from 36.22 million the year before, the Nielsen company said. 

Last year's games featured the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, which reached more than 48 million viewers.

While ratings were down, Saturday's game between the Patriots and Titans was only one million viewers behind the College Football Championship for the most watched program of the week.

The NFL's television ratings for the 2017 regular season fell by 9.7 percent.

A typical game was watched by 1.6 million fewer people this season as compared to last season (14.9 million vs. 16.5 million).

The NFL had an eight percent slide during the 2016 season.

Both Fox CEO James Murdoch and CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus blamed the ratings slide on the proliferation of games.

The NFL RedZone may also be taking fans away from watching the daytime games on CBS and FOX.

The NBA, however, has seen a 20 percent increase in viewership this season as compared to 2016-17.

Nielsen data, however, also shows that the 20 of the top 30 highest rated shows on television in 2017 were football games.