NFL approval of Tom Brady's purchase into Raiders 'making progress' - ESPN

ORLANDO, Fla. — The NFL has yet to approve Tom Brady's bid for Las Vegas Raiders minority ownership, but commissioner Roger Goodell is not concerned.

«I wouldn't say it's a delay,» Goodell said Tuesday from the NFL's annual league meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes. «We go through a very thorough process.… We're just going through our process. We've been in touch with their side. I think it's been making progress.»

Last May, the Raiders reached an agreement with Brady for him to join the organization's ownership group, pending league approval.

«We're excited for Tom to join the Raiders,» owner Mark Davis told ESPN's Paul Gutierrez then. «And it's exciting because he will be just the third player in the history of the National Football League to become an owner.»

George Halas and Jerry Richardson are the other two.

League approval requires a supermajority vote of at least 24 NFL owners. Membership did not vote on the matter this week. It is scheduled to reconvene in May.

In other highlights from Goodell's news conference:

• The league is still investigating whether the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons tampered in their free agency recruitment of running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Kirk Cousins, respectively.

«I usually don't get an update until concluded — I know they were hard at work on it immediately,» Goodell said.

• NFL defensive players have used social media to vocalize frustration with the league's banning of the swivel hip-drop tackle. The style of tackle — holding on to the back of a ball carrier while dropping body weight onto the back of his legs — now results in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down. Goodell said members of the competition committee met with the league at last