The Offensive Line

A key piece of covering the N.F.L.’s quarterly league meetings, as I have for a dozen years as a sportswriter for The New York Times, is trying to get the tight-lipped, billionaire team owners to talk about issues of the day. Mostly, it’s a fool’s errand. Few of them want to talk to the media, let alone be seen talking to you, and when they do talk, they are often guarded.