NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear on Wednesday that he is unlikely to grant the NFL Players Association’s request of recusing himself from the Tom Brady appeal. Could that wind up being a good thing for Brady?
Brady, who is appealing a four-game suspension, has maintained that he did nothing wrong in relation to the Deflategate scandal. The Ted Wells report failed to prove otherwise. However, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said Brady’s suspension had a lot to do with his lack of cooperation in refusing to turn over his personal cell phone during the investigation.
On Tuesday, Patriots owner Robert Kraft agreed to accept the sanctions that have been levied against his team — a $1 million fine and the loss of a first-round and fourth-round draft pick. That announcement came after Kraft and Goodell reportedly chatted in private over the weekend and even exchanged a hug. While there has been speculation that Kraft’s waiving of the white flag could be seen as an admission of guilt and hurt Brady’s appeal, I still believe Kraft and Goodell had to have worked out some sort of deal.
Now, back to the cell phone. One of the best ways for Goodell to justify reducing or overturning Brady’s suspension would be if Brady agrees to turn over what Wells called “relevant text messages or emails.” Wells said Brady was given the option of having his own lawyer screen the content before sharing it, and Goodell would likely offer the same deal during the appeal. On Wednesday, Goodell said he is open to taking a look at at those records.
“I look forward to hearing directly from Tom if there’s new information or information that can be helpful to us in getting this right,” he said, via The Associated Press. “I want to hear directly from Tom in that.”
If Brady essentially gets to share any information he wants, how could he possibly get himself into trouble? And if Goodell can tell fans Brady turned over relevant information that contained nothing incriminating or definitive, couldn’t he use that as a reason to cut the suspension?
Maybe I’m overthinking it. I just can’t see any good reason for Kraft to change his stance completely after having his legal team publish a 20,000-word rebuttal to the Wells report that contained one of the most absurd excuses we have ever heard.
Many feel that Brady refused to turn over his cell phone because it would have gotten him into even more trouble. It sure would be ironic if that same phone ended up letting him off the hook.
