Roger Goodell to preside over Tom Brady appeal

The odds of Tom Brady winning the appeal of his 4-game suspension for Deflategate just got a lot longer.

Bleacher Report NFL reporter Mike Freeman reported (yes, that’s three times I said report or reporter in six words) Thursday that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will preside over Brady’s appeal. The NFL later confirmed that move.

Many including myself have speculated that Brady would win an appeal with an impartial arbitrator and likely have his suspension reduced (I said to two or three games). Goodell is the guy who hammered the Patriots with heavy penalties this week including a $1 million fine, four-game suspension for Brady, and the loss of two draft picks including a first-round pick. He already is familiar with the case and appears to have strongly made up his mind. How could he backtrack from what he’s already decided? And how is it fair that the guy who decided the penalty also hears the arbitration? That should be addressed the next time the league and union meet to discuss the CBA.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft has always been a huge supporter of Goodell, but you have to imagine that his feelings on the commissioner have now changed. Without Kraft’s support, Goodell’s job security may be shakier. But he did the right thing by hitting them with hard penalties. They deserved them.

Some believe Goodell will lessen the penalty against the Pats to curry favor with the public and Patriots, but I’m not so sure about that. Our Steve DelVecchio thinks that Goodell wanting to preside over the case is an admission of guilty by the NFL, perhaps because they don’t want someone else to poke holes at the shoddy Wells Report. We shall see what happens.