Latest On Tom Brady, DeflateGate

The NFL plans to change guidelines regarding the way footballs are handled before games, a person familiar with the situation tells Rob Maaddi of The Associated Press. Any change made wouldn’t require a vote from owners and would be decided solely by the league office. Current rules state that footballs are sent directly to teams and one has to imagine that a new set of rules would see a centralized authority overseeing the game balls. Here’s more on Tom Brady, the Patriots, and DeflateGate..

  • No surprise here, but commissioner Roger Goodell is “very unlikely” to recuse himself from presiding over Tom Brady’s appeal, a source tells Ed Werder of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
  • In the case of Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, the federal lawsuit against the league came after his suspension was upheld. In Brady’s case, you can expect the lawsuit to come before Goodell resolves the appeal, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. The NFLPA’s appeal letter to Troy Vincent also makes it sound like legal action could be around the corner. “If the Commissioner does not appoint such a neutral arbitrator, the NFLPA and Mr. Brady will seek recusal and pursue all available relief to obtain an arbitrator who is not evidently partial,” the letter states.
  • In a separate piece, Florio says that it’s unlikely that we’ll see John Jastremski or Jim McNally do media interviews. Chances are that both men signed documents upon being hired by the Patriots preventing them from making public comments about their work with the team.
  • The NFL had no choice but to go hard after one of it’s top stars, Gene Frenette of The Florida Times-Union opines.
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