Owners To Discuss Changing Goodell’s Role in Disciplinary Process
Following the NFL’s latest defeat in court, the NFL’s team owners intend to discuss the possibility of changing commissioner Roger Goodell’s role in the player disciplinary process, several sources tell Mark Maske of the Washington Post.
According to Maske, there’s no guarantee that Goodell’s role will be altered as a result of these discussions, but it’s the first sign that Judge Richard Berman’s ruling on the DeflateGate case could have an impact beyond just getting Tom Brady back on the field for the Patriots.
A person familiar with “the league’s inner workings” tells Maske that it’s too soon to know whether there are enough owners in favor of changing Goodell’s role. If there are, it could result in the league engaging the NFL Players Association about possible modifications to the disciplinary process. The players’ union would like to see a neutral arbitrator hear disciplinary appeals, replacing Goodell in the process.
A timetable for the owners’ discussions has not yet been set, but the next formal meetings are scheduled for October.
Reactions, Notes On Tom Brady Decision
After Judge Richard Berman announced today that he has vacated Tom Brady‘s four-game suspension, the NFLPA and NFL each issued statements on the matter, with the league confirming that it will extend the legal battle by appealing Berman’s ruling. Now, Patriots owner Robert Kraft has released his own statement on the decision, via the Patriots’ website.
“As I have said during this process and throughout his Patriots career, Tom Brady is a classy person of the highest integrity,” Kraft said in the statement. “He represents everything that is great about this game and this league. Yet, with absolutely no evidence of any actions of wrongdoing by Tom in the Wells report, the lawyers at the league still insisted on imposing and defending unwarranted and unprecedented discipline. Judge Richard Berman understood this and we are greatly appreciative of his thoughtful decision that was delivered today. Now, we can return our focus to the game on the field.”
While Kraft may be eager to shift the focus to the action on the field, there are plenty of reactions, opinions, and leftover tidbits on today’s news to pass along, so let’s dive in and round up the latest….
- The NFL’s appeal of Judge Berman’s decision didn’t include a request to expedite the process, so it figures to drag on for a while, tweets Andrew Brandt of TheMMQB.com.
- In a conversation with CSN’s Jill Sorensen, NFLPA director DeMaurice Smith says that the union doesn’t “make the mistake of trusting the league,” and suggests that the Patriots probably wish they had a “do-over” after accepting the NFL’s sanctions against the franchise earlier this year without an appeal.
- While Smith may be right about the Pats, the team is highly unlikely to attempt to recoup those lost draft picks now, reports Tom Curran of CSNNE.com after speaking to someone “very high in the organization.”
- Rachel Axon of USA Today Sports provides a brief and informative Q&A on what today’s ruling means for Brady, the Patriots, and the league, and what will happen next.
- The NFL’s lawyers figure to take “saws and blow-torches” to the league’s personal conduct policy in the near future, says Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports. Specifically, in Robinson’s view, the league must address the ramifications in future cases for obstructing justice or for having “general awareness” of a violation, since there was no precedent set before the league attempted to penalize Brady for those acts.
- Following the league’s latest PR disaster, commissioner Roger Goodell still isn’t in danger of losing his job, but the NFL will likely make more nuanced changes and alterations to various roles and job descriptions, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. La Canfora adds that several sources believe it’s only a matter of time until changes are made within the league’s front office, and the CBS scribe also wonders if the NFL’s relationship with Ted Wells has run its course.
- The NFL’s loss in court is just the latest defeat in what has become a “pattern of losing” for the league, writes Mike Freman of Bleacher Report. According to Freeman, Berman’s decision dealt a blow to both Goodell’s legacy and the NFL’s image.
- As Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports outlines, there may have been a silver lining for the league and for Goodell, since Judge Berman declined to rule on a number of claims made by Brady and the NFLPA. Brady’s camp claimed that Goodell was an “evidently partial” arbitrator and improperly delegated authority to executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent. Had Berman sided with Brady and the NFLPA on those issues, it would have sent a precedent for independent arbitration going forward, but the judge felt he had enough to overturn the league’s ruling based on several other factors, and didn’t commit one way or the other to those claims.
NFL Appeals Judge’s Ruling On Tom Brady
1:52pm: The NFL has officially filed its appeal, according to Andrew Brandt of TheMMQB.com (via Twitter). Brandt confirms that the league didn’t request an injunction, so there are no obstacles for Brady playing in Week 1.
11:26am: The NFL Players Association was quick to issue a statement following Judge Richard Berman’s decision to nullify Tom Brady‘s suspension, and now commissioner Roger Goodell has released a statement of his own. According to Goodell, the league – as expected – will appeal Berman’s ruling, continuing the litigation process. Here’s the full statement, via the NFL’s website:
“We are grateful to Judge Berman for hearing this matter, but respectfully disagree with today’s decision. We will appeal today’s ruling in order to uphold the collectively bargained responsibility to protect the integrity of the game. The commissioner’s responsibility to secure the competitive fairness of our game is a paramount principle, and the league and our 32 clubs will continue to pursue a path to that end. While the legal phase of this process continues, we look forward to focusing on football and the opening of the regular season.”
While the NFL will continue to fight the DeflateGate battle in court, it doesn’t appear the league will seek an injunction to prevent Brady from playing early in the season. That means that, barring Berman’s decision being overturned and the case being finalized before the end of the year, which seems unlikely, Brady will be able to play the entire season for the Patriots.
According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link), there are at least some team owners who would have preferred to see the NFL stand down, rather than continuing the appeals process. Presumably, those owners don’t want the DeflateGate saga to draw attention away from the action on the field, with the regular season around the corner. According to Cole, some owners are also becoming more interested in retooling the NFL’s discipline process.
East Notes: Brady, Giants, G. Smith
Lawyers for the NFL and NFLPA are meeting today for more settlement talks regarding Tom Brady‘s situation, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Judge Richard M. Berman wants the two sides to compromise and reach a settlement, but Brady can’t concede to the NFL’s terms without committing perjury, argues Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports.
As Robinson explains, the league wants the Patriots quarterback to admit guilt, but Brady testified under oath that he was innocent. So if a settlement is to be reached, the NFL will likely have to give more ground than Brady and the NFLPA to make it happen.
Here’s more on the Brady situation, along with several more notes from out of the East divisions:
- Judge Berman has made next Wednesday’s settlement conference optional for Brady and commissioner Roger Goodell, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk thinks the judge may be trying to discern whether Goodell and Brady view the case as sufficiently important to attend the meeting.
- Free agent guard Evan Mathis may be on the verge of signing with an NFL team, according to a recent report, but Dan Graziano of ESPNNewYork.com (on Twitter) says he doesn’t think it’ll be the Giants, since he doesn’t believe they’re interested.
- Graziano (on Twitter) also doesn’t see Jason Pierre-Paul staying with the Giants beyond 2015.
- Geno Smith and IK Enemkpali are both to blame for the unrest in the Jets‘ locker room, Kristian Dyer of Metro NY writes. Meanwhile, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link) suggests there’s a belief that Smith lacks respect within the Jets organization and may have been on his way to losing the starting job even before his injury. The quarterback underwent surgery today and had plates and screws put in, though his jaw won’t be wired shut, per Brian Costello of the New York Post (Twitter link).
- Don’t blame Jets coach Todd Bowles for the Smith-Enemkpali smackdown and the recent Sheldon Richardson transgressions, but start judging him now, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com writes. How Bowles handles the team’s latest road bumps will determine what type of coach he becomes for the Jets.
- Undrafted center David Andrews out of Georgia is a top candidate among the Patriots‘ four UDFAs to land a roster spot, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com tweets.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Latest On DeflateGate, Brady Appeal
The session in Judge Berman’s courtroom today in New York – which included Tom Brady, Roger Goodell, and reps from the NFL and NFLPA – has now concluded, and union executive director DeMaurice Smith didn’t have much to say as he left for the day, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
“We won’t be making a formal statement other than to say we had a productive day in court,” Smith said. “We’ll get back to work on the issue.”
Part of today’s hearing was open to the public, and NFL Media legal analyst Gabe Feldman, who was in attendance, suggests Judge Berman’s goal was to ask questions that created some fear on both sides that they could lose the case (link via NFL.com).
“I think that it was a big part of the purpose of this morning was for the judge to poke holes in both sides,” Feldman said. “To say, I have some serious questions about both of your cases and I could rule against each of you based on the questions I have. So rather than risk losing it all, rather than risk a worst-case scenario, why not move a little bit in toward something of a settlement rather than face my decision.”
Here’s more on the hearing:
- Judge Berman grilled the NFL extensively about its reliance on Ted Wells’ report and the lack of a “smoking gun” implicating Brady in any football deflation, writes Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today. While Berman’s line of questioning to the league may have been more aggressive and pointed than his questions to the NFLPA, he made it clear that he had yet to determine which side would prevail in litigation.
- It may time for Brady to consider making a deal that would reduce – but not eliminate – his suspension, suggests Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com, observing that “Judge Berman wants a settlement and he’s going to smash these sides together to make one.”
- A settlement still seems unlikely, says ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss in his recap of the public portion of today’s meeting. Meanwhile, UNH law professor Michael McCann believes that the NFL has to be concerned about setting a troublesome precedent if it reaches a settlement with Brady and concedes too much (link via CSNNE.com).
- In the opinion of WEEI’s Mike Petraglia, Wells’ report – and the NFL’s reliance on it – will be the undoing of the league’s case against Brady.
Latest On Patriots, Tom Brady
The latest on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as he gets set for today’s settlement conference in NYC..
- Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (on Twitter) has spoken with six NFL owners who would consider independent mediation/arbitration on discipline for Brady. One of the owners told Cole that he feels the situation is only hurting Roger Goodell.
- Settlement talks between the NFL and NFLPA on Tuesday regarding the Brady situation went nowhere, Albert Breer of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears from a source. Admission-of-guilt, he says, remains a stumbling block. The NFL is now saying there will be no settlement unless Brady accepts the findings of the Wells report, sources tell Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- As the settlement conference approaches, some wonder whether commissioner Roger Goodell truly has the power to resolve the case without making one or more phone calls to one more owners, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. Throughout the labor negotiations of 2011, the Commissioner was joined by the CEC, a group of 10 owners who were directly involved in talks that culminated in a new labor deal. He may have to take a similar approach in order to settle with the Patriots quarterback.
Latest On DeflateGate, Brady Appeal
Tom Brady, the NFL, and the NFL Players Association are scheduled to meet on Wednesday morning for a court hearing presided over by Judge Richard Berman. Before that session, however, Judge Berman would like to see the two sides re-engage in settlement talks.
Albert Breer of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter) that Judge Berman asked the two sides to “engage in further good faith settlements efforts today” before he meets with them tomorrow. Judge Berman intends to meet with counsel from both the NFL and NFLPA before tomorrow’s public hearing to get an update on their progress.
Despite the order from Judge Berman, don’t look for anything of substance to happen regarding settlement talks today, tweets Jason Cole of Bleacher Report. Mark Maske of the Washington Post spoke to several people familiar with the case who expressed a similar sentiment, suggesting that not much had changed since the two sides unsuccessfully attempted to reach a settlement earlier.
While Brady is extremely unlikely to agree to any settlement that would acknowledge he had any involvement in deflating footballs, he and the NFLPA may agree to a deal that penalizes him for a lack of cooperation with the league’s DeflateGate investigation. However, Brady and the union would likely push for a fine – rather than a suspension – in that scenario, which may not be sufficient for the NFL.
The NFL and NFLPA probably won’t reach a resolution today, but there’s hope that the accelerated court schedule will allow the case to conclude soon.
Latest On Deflategate
The NFL relying on suspending Tom Brady for “conduct detrimental to the integrity of” the game is a slippery slope, writes Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio in analyzing both the league’s and NFLPA’s briefs issued Friday night (Twitter link).
While the NFL is aiming toward using this broad language to illustrate why Brady deserved the four-game suspension, the NFLPA can argue Brady’s punishment should reside in the realm of an equipment violation rather than a performance-enhancing drug-level ban. The 2011 CBA that grants Roger Goodell suspension leeway, however, the two sides negotiated points into the agreement that pertain to detrimental conduct.
Florio points to the fine schedule, which contains amounts for which players can be fined for certain offenses, such as taunting or various excessive roughness. The PFT writer compares this case to a player caught using stickum, which would bring a fine of less than $10,000, as opposed to the immense charges that have been levied here.
Here are some other observations from the latest Deflategate salvos.
- The NFL will point to legal precedents where judges didn’t overrule the decisions of arbitrators, writes Ben Volin of the Boston Globe (on Twitter). Citing those cases, the NFL’s argument could supersede Goodell’s potentially questionable tactics when upholding the 16th-year Patriots quarterback’s suspension.
- Whether or not Ted Wells needed to be viewed as an independent investigator poses another gray area, writes Michael McCann of SI.com. The NFL now argues Wells’ affiliation is immaterial, but McCann points out judge Richard M. Berman could look at previous statements praising the investigator’s impartiality in being assigned this case. Those optics wouldn’t look good for the league.
- In addressing the case Friday night in Canton, Ohio, Goodell pointed to the CBA in defending his decision. “Listen, he’s a great player and he’s a great young man. We issued the decision just last week. We’re in the midst of litigation to … ensure that that’s enforced the way we ruled on that, after a long process that is established in our collective bargaining agreement. That’s something we’ll play through,” the commissioner said via Ron Borges of Talk of Fame Sports. Inductee Ron Wolf also praised Goodell for his judgment, replaying “Way to go on that Brady thing,” which induced uproarious Goodell laughter. The former Packers executive clarified that he while it came out as a joke, he meant to merely congratulate the league boss on finally coming to a decision.
AFC Notes: Foster, Brady, Colts, Nicks
As we inch close to the start of the NFL’s preseason schedule, let’s round up a few of the latest updates from around the AFC….
- Texans running back Arian Foster underwent successful surgery on his groin this morning in Philadelphia, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that there’s some hope Foster’s recovery period will be less than three months. The star running back still appears to be a strong candidate for the club’s IR-DTR slot to open the regular season.
- The settlement conference between the NFL and NFLPA is scheduled to take place at 11:00am eastern time next Wednesday, tweets Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and commissioner Roger Goodell will both attend the meeting in Judge Richard M. Berman’s courtroom.
- The Colts snagged cornerback Tevin Mitchel off waivers from Washington this week, despite the fact that he’s expected to miss the season with a shoulder injury, writes Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star. As Holder explains, the Colts were targeting Mitchel in the draft this year before Washington grabbed him in the sixth round, and the club now has the opportunity to stash him on its IR for the season.
- Teresa M. Walker of The Associated Press examines Hakeem Nicks‘ efforts to earn a roster spot in Tennessee after signing a one-year deal with the Titans this offseason.
AFC Notes: Brady, Patriots, Hunter, Texans
Earlier today, a mammoth 457-page transcript of Tom Brady‘s testimony was released. As Jimmy Golen of The Associated Press writes, the Patriots quarterback denied under oath to Roger Goodell that he tampered with footballs before the AFC title game. Meanwhile, investigator Ted Wells apparently never warned the Brady he would be punished if he didn’t turn over his cellphone. Brady denied discussing air level with the ballboys or even thinking about how inflated the footballs were when he selected them. He also said he’s never asked anyone from the Patriots to tamper with footballs. While we wait to see how that all shakes out, here’s more out of the AFC..
- The transcript also contains confirmation that the Ravens tipped off the Colts on the Patriots‘ alleged doctoring of footballs, Ben Volin of The Boston Globe tweets.
- The NFLPA filed its counterclaim and amended answer in federal court in Manhattan today, as Tom Pelissero of USA Today tweets. As a part of the counterclaim, the union brought forth the Brady appeal transcript, which led it it becoming public.
- Titans receiver Justin Hunter is facing a felonious assault charge following a bar fight last month, but his attorney is confident that the case will “end will” for Hunter, as John Glennon of The Tennessean writes. “I can tell you I’m confident that Justin didn’t do what he’s been charged with and that I have significant concerns about the credibility of the accuser,” attorney Toby Vick said. The NFL is also looking into the incident, and will likely wait for resolution in court before deciding on possible discipline for the wideout.
- Former University of Texas wide receiver Mike Davis recently worked out for the Chiefs and has also worked out for the Panthers, a source tells Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post (Twitter link).
- Arian Foster‘s groin issue isn’t the only bad injury news the Texans received today. According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter), sixth-round rookie OLB Reshard Cliett went down with a knee injury in the club’s first practice, and is expected to be sidelined for the year.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.