Tom Brady

AFC East Notes: Brady, Jets, Richardson

August 3rd, 2015 at 6:20pm CST by Zachary Links

Albert Breer of NFL Media (on Twitter) hears that the parties in the August 12th Tom Brady settlement conference may be able to participate by phone, but that they’ll have to present a good reason for doing so. Mike Florio of PFT, a former lawyer, advises that Brady get himself to Manhattan as a sign of respect to the federal judge. Florio writes that not flying to Manhattan alone won’t mean a loss in court for Brady, but it could affect the proceedings in other ways. Here’s more from the AFC East..

The Jets obviously can’t get much for him now, but Sheldon Richardson could be a valuable trade piece after the 2015 season, Darryl Slater of the Star-Ledger writes. The final year of Richardson’s rookie deal is in 2016, but he can be kept under control through 2017 with a fifth-year option at a relatively cheap rate. For now, the Jets will have to wait and see if Richardon’s four-game suspension for marijuana is about to balloon into something bigger after last week’s bizarre incident.
Veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick has virtually no chance of overtaking Geno Smith for the Jets‘ starting QB job this summer, Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post writes. Of course, if Smith falters for the first few weeks of the season, the door will be open for the Harvard product.
Calvin Pryor didn’t impress in his rookie season with the Jets, but a position change could be the key to unlocking his potential, Brian Costello of the New York Post writes. The Louisville product is now playing strong safety instead of free safety, which means that he can concentrate on laying down the big hits.
In the battle of Patriots QB vs. Roger Goodell, Gary Tanguay of CSNNE.com feels that the law is on the side of the commissioner, which is why Brady should take a settlement on his suspension, if possible.

East Notes: Pats, Jets, Mathis, Goldson

August 1st, 2015 at 3:18pm CST by Sam Robinson

As our first weekend of 2015 training camp action is upon us, let’s look at some of the matters emerging from the Eastern divisions.

Adding to last night’s report of an August 12 conference involving Tom Brady and Roger Goodell, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio notes the transcript from Brady’s June appeal hearing with Goodell will become available if the case isn’t settled. Florio views Judge Richard M. Berman’s action of getting directly involved in trying to settle this case quickly one of the more active attempts by a judge to do so in his extensive law history. The PFT scribe notes that Berman probably already knows which way he’ll rule should both sides indeed join him for this summit as opposed to settling this matter beforehand.
The Patriots are not observing the latest Deflategate-related directive to tone it down, as Florio notes, and instead have launched a website aimed at uncovering what they believe is misinformation in the Ted Wells report. The first post on a site titled WellsReportcontext.com shows a chain of emails between Patriots general counsel Robyn Glaser and NFL general counsel Jeff Pash. While this means more Deflategate coverage more than six months after the story surfaced, it looks to now at least have created a job for a Patriots IT staffer.
Evan Mathis‘ agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has engaged in preliminary talks with the Jets, reports Rich Cimini of ESPN.com (Twitter link) after speaking with Jets GM Mike Maccagnan. “We’ve had talks with Evan’s agent,” Maccagnan said, according to Justin Tasch of the New York Daily News. “They’re kind of getting a feel for where – they have a range for where they want to be. The other thing with a lot of teams honestly at this point in time, you almost want to kind of see what you have first to a certain degree.” The former All-Pro would certainly be an upgrade over Willie Colon, who’s battled a knee ailment all offseason before coming off the PUP list Saturday. Tasch, however, adds Nothing is imminent, with Mathis — who was slated to make $5.5MM with the Eagles this season before his release — searches for significant money. Gang Green has $5.5MM in cap room, per OverTheCap.
Shortly after Rod Graves vacated his spot in the Jets’ front office to take a job with the league office, the Jets will replace him as director of football administration with Jacqueline Davidson, according to Randy Lange of NewYorkJets.com. Joining Cardinals assistant Jen Welter, Raiders play-by-play voice Beth Mowins and newly appointed official Sarah Thomas as one of the highest-ranking women in the league, Davidson already serves as the Jets’ lead negotiator in player contracts and played a key role in the Jets’ reacquiring of Darrelle Revis.
Washington safety Dashon Goldson, as part of the renegotiated contract upon his trade from the Bucs, received a $2.3MM roster bonus today, per ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter).

Latest On DeflateGate

July 31st, 2015 at 6:41pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman, who will decide whether to uphold the NFL’s four-game suspension of Tom Brady, has scheduled an Aug. 12 conference that will include both Brady and commissioner Roger Goodell, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin tweeted. If the dispute isn’t settled then, the parties will meet again Aug. 19 for oral arguments, according to Gabe Feldman of the sports law program at Tulane University (Twitter link). Feldman tweeted that while Berman’s ruling will be subject to appeal, the process is moving extremely quickly and a decision will be made well before the season starts.

For his part, Brady filed his counterclaim Friday in the Southern District of New York, per Volin (via Twitter) – who gleaned from Brady’s lawsuit that he wanted his June 23 appeal to be done under oath (Twitter link).

Meanwhile, two owners told ESPN’s Jim Trotter that they’re unhappy with both the amount of money being spent on Brady’s case and the treatment of Brady, Trotter tweeted. The owners also told Trotter that a “molehill has been made into a mountain,” and said it never should’ve gotten to this point (Twitter link). They reiterated Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s point that lawyers are too involved in the process.

The reason the Brady case has gotten so ugly, according to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole (video link), stems from discord between the league and the NFLPA dating back to the fight over the 2011 collective bargaining agreement – a fight the owners ultimately won. Given that outcome, NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith has to “fight tool and nail on every issue possible,” Cole said. Further, per Cole, owners are beginning to wonder if taking some power from the commissioner and switching to an independent appeal process would be better for disciplinary matters.

AFC East Notes: Richardson, Brady, Dareus

July 31st, 2015 at 2:34pm CST by Luke Adams

Tim Lohmar, the prosecuting attorney in Sheldon Richardson‘s case, didn’t feel he could get a conviction on a charge of child endangerment, and only charged the Jets defensive lineman with resisting arrest and traffic violations, writes Brian Costello of the New York Post. Lohmar also couldn’t bring any drug charges against Richardson, despite his car smelling freshly burned marijuana, as he explains to Costello.

“The odor, according to the officer, was such that it was a fresh odor. The weed had just burned,” Lohmar said. “I think you can reasonably assume that had been taking place while they were driving and somewhere between that and the time they were pulled over, whatever was in the car was thrown from the car. We don’t know that, obviously.”

Given the lack of drug charges, the incident may not technically be a violation of the league’s drug policy, though that’s not certain, a source tells Josina Anderson of ESPN.com. Despite the lack of serious charges against Richardson, the NFL will conduct its own investigation and could penalize the Jets defender harshly based on the violation of the league’s personal conduct policy.

However the case plays out, Richardson embarrassed himself and the Jets by trying to hide his arrest, writes Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com.

Here’s more from around the AFC East:

The NFLPA and NFL have requested an expedited schedule in the Tom Brady case, which would avoid the need for preliminary injunction and would give both sides more certainty, per Gabe Feldman (Twitter links). As Feldman explains (via Twitter), the league and the union agree that “no discovery is needed to adjudicate the motions” and proposed a schedule that would involve filing their motions by August 7, replying by August 14, then making their oral arguments and getting a decision before the start of the NFL regular season. The proposal could set the stage for a settlement between the two sides, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
General manager Doug Whaley said today that his Bills have “exchanged proposals” with Marcell Dareus regarding a new contract, cautioning that “these things take time” (Twitter link via Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News).
While the Dolphins have been the team most frequently linked to free agent guard Evan Mathis, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald tweets that he has it “on good authority” that the club hasn’t even begun speaking to Drew Rosenhaus about a contract for his client. Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports noted yesterday (via Twitter) that the Dolphins’ interest in Mathis had been overstated.
Although he showed up for the Jets‘ training camp, Muhammad Wilkerson admits that it’s “a little frustrating” not to have a new contract in place yet, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. Wilkerson remains hopeful that the two sides can get something done before the season begins.

AFC Notes: Brady, Weddle, Lewis, Kromer

July 30th, 2015 at 9:23pm CST by Zachary Links

A U.S. District Court judge ordered the NFL and NFLPA to try to resolve their differences over Tom Brady‘s suspension without litigation, as ESPN.com writes. Of course, it seems unlikely that the two sides will peacefully resolve the conflict regarding the Patriots quarterback. Here’s more from the AFC..

Chargers safety Eric Weddle says that he will not hold out from camp but added that he believes this will be his last year with the team, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets. Weddle and the Bolts have been embroiled in a contract dispute all offseason and there has been no sign of the two compromising on an extension.
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis wants to win a Super Bowl this season and “walk away” afterwards to leave the game on top, Paul Daugherty of The Cincinnati Enquirer writes.
Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer entered a written plea of not guilty in a Florida court, as Mike Rodak of ESPN.com tweets. Kromer is scheduled for a September 2nd pre-trial hearing.

AFC East Notes: Brady, Bills, Dolphins

July 30th, 2015 at 2:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier today, we learned that a Minnesota judge ruled that the NFLPA’s appeal on behalf of Tom Brady will be transferred to Manhattan, where the NFL first filed its own lawsuit. According to NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler, the union doesn’t view that as a big deal.

“It really doesn’t matter to us where the case is,” Kessler told Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “What we finally have is a neutral forum. Before a neutral forum, we are very confident in our position.”

The NFLPA will have make some revisions when it re-files its appeal in New York, but “ostensibly we will be making the same arguments,” said Kessler, adding that the union is “very happy” to have Judge Richard M. Berman appointed to the case.

Let’s round up a couple more items related to the Brady situation, along with some other notes out of the AFC East….

Kessler spoke yesterday to Tom Pelissero of USA Today, broadly addressing the NFLPA’s appeal on Brady’s behalf and explaining the case the union will be making in court. As Pelissero writes, the NFLPA’s appeal quotes Patriots owner Robert Kraft at length, and Kessler said of Kraft’s statement from earlier this week: “I’ve never more agreed with Robert Kraft in my life, about anything.”
On the Dan Patrick Show today, NFLPA executive George Atallah said the NFLPA’s settlement offer involved Brady paying a fine instead of serving a suspension, and the NFL didn’t respond to that offer (Twitter link via Noah Coslov).
Appearing at a “Business of Sports” breakfast in Buffalo on Thursday, Bills owner Terry Pegula said work on a new stadium for his team is “nothing urgent right now,” writes Mark Gaughan of The Buffalo News. Commissioner Roger Goodell and some NFL owners have said that a new stadium will eventually be a necessity in Western New York, but Pegula pointed to several upgrades made on Ralph Wilson Stadium in recent years, suggesting it would be “foolish” to pursue a new stadium right after renovating the current one.
Speaking today to reporters, including James Walker of ESPN.com (via Twitter), Dolphins owner Stephen Ross praised the talent on Miami’s 2015 roster, and said he and head coach Joe Philbin are expecting a payoff this year. While Ross didn’t specifically address Philbin’s job status, there has been plenty of speculation that the head coach will be on the hot seat if the Fins don’t make the playoffs this season.

Brady Lawsuit Moved From Minnesota To NYC

July 30th, 2015 at 9:18am CST by Luke Adams

Minnesota judge Richard Kyle has ordered the NFLPA’s appeal on behalf of Tom Brady to be transferred to Manhattan, where the NFL first filed its own lawsuit, tweets Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal. The decision tips the scales in the league’s favor, since Minnesota courts are typically viewed as more labor-friendly and have ruled in favor of the NFLPA in the past.

As Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets, Judge Kyle found there was no reason for the case to have been filed in Minnesota, since the NFL is headquartered in New York, the arbitration proceedings took place in New York, and the award was issued in New York. Since the league also knew better than the NFLPA when Roger Goodell’s decision would be announced, it was able to gets its lawsuit in ahead of the union’s, and Kyle cited the “first-filed” rule when making his decision.

While the ruling is considered a positive sign for the league, it’s not necessarily all bad for the union. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, Judge Kyle was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, while New York judge Richard M. Berman was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. Democratic judges are generally believed to be more philosophically aligned with labor and individuals, rather than management, so Judge Berman figures to give Brady and the NFLPA a fair shake.

The NFLPA plans to refile its lawsuit against the league on behalf of Brady in Manhattan today, according to Albert Breer of the NFL Network (via Twitter).

Tom Brady Updates: Wednesday

July 29th, 2015 at 6:28pm CST by Luke Adams

6:28pm: The NFLPA has officially announced its suit on behalf of Brady, providing a brief summary of its arguments, along with the full text of the appeal.

6:08pm: The lawsuit from Tom Brady and the NFL Players Association seeking to vacate Brady’s four-game suspension has officially been filed in Minnesota district court, tweets Albert Breer of the NFL Network. According to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter link), NFLPA attorney Jeffrey Kessler says the union filed suit on four grounds, including a lack of notice and Roger Goodell’s partiality. Breer notes (via Twitter) that the suit also refers to Brady’s June appeal hearing as one that “defied any concept of fundamental fairness.”

Unsurprisingly, several news, notes, and opinions on the Brady situation have trickled in over the course of the day, so we’ll use this space to round them all up. Here’s the latest:

News/rumors/quotes:

The NFLPA will ask the judge to either rule by September 4th or to issue an injunction allowing Brady to play pending a ruling, a source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (on Twitter). Kessler thinks the situation can be resolved by September 4th, as Pelissero tweets.
At least two NFLPA player reps were “dismayed” by the union’s decision to vehemently defend Brady, since those players believe it’s likely that Brady is guilty and are concerned about the union’s spending on legal fees, says Jason Cole of Bleacher Report. (video link). In a letter to the NFL Players Association’s board of player representatives earlier this year, attorneys Tom DePaso and Ira Fishman explained why the NFLPA has paid so much more in legal fees than the MLB and NBA player unions over the last three years (Twitter links via Cole).
Brady’s agent, Don Yee, told Ed Werder of ESPN (Twitter links) that his client was beyond cooperative with Roger Goodell and Ted Wells’ team and offered up all of his cell phone records. “I’m not sure there’s another person in America with a celebrity equal to Tom’s who would do that. Imagine Taylor Swift [doing that],” Yee said.
Yee also offered up a theory on why the NFL has decided to file preemptively in New York federal court (via Twitter links). “One inference is they’re not confident in their reason, not confident in their evidence. [They’re] looking for a friendly jurisdiction down the street from Park Avenue because they’re saying to the world, ‘We doubt our evidence and reasoning can withstand any jurisdiction in America.’ They’re essentially admitting that.”
Yee told Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com (Twitter links) that he contacted AT&T’s general counsel to see if they could technologically retrieve the contents of Brady’s text messages, but they could not. Said Yee: “They are an independent third party. If we were trying to hide something, why would we even reach out?”
More comments on the matter from Yee to Curran and to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com can be found here and here.
Judge Richard Berman, described as “fair” and “more than capable,” has been assigned the NFL’s lawsuit in New York City, tweets Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports. Breer, meanwhile, tweets that Judge Richard Kyle drew the NFLPA’s suit in Minnesota, and suggests that could be good news for the league.

Opinions/editorials:

In a Pro Football Talk column, Florio wonders why Goodell didn’t increase Brady’s suspension, if the new information he received – since initially deciding on four games – convinced him that the Patriots quarterback deliberately obstructed the investigation by destroying his cell phone.
Brady didn’t just show contempt for Goodell — he disrespected every other NFL player too, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post writes.
When one of the league’s “most ambassadorial” owners like Robert Kraft makes such a strong statement about his lack of trust in the NFL’s ability to be fair and just, it’s hard to imagine things getting much worse for the league, writes Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports.
Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report implores Brady to come clean so that the NFL can avoid a civil war. In a separate piece, Freeman passes along a text message he received from a Patriots player: “It’s us against the world.”
We may never know whether Brady was involved in deflating footballs, but it seems that his true crime in the eyes of the NFL and Goodell was refusing to play ball with the league, writes La Canfora in a CBSSports.com column.

Earlier: Robert Kraft, Tom Brady issue statements

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Robert Kraft, Tom Brady Issue Statements

July 29th, 2015 at 9:15am CST by Zachary Links

9:15am: At a Wednesday morning press conference, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said that he was “wrong to put his faith in the league” (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com on Twitter). Kraft explained that he was willing to “accept the harshest penalty in the history of the NFL for an alleged ball violation” because he believed that it would exonerate Brady, Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald tweets.

Kraft expressed regret for not taking legal action against the NFL and slammed Goodell. “There are those in the league office who are more determined to prove they were right rather than admit any culpability,” the Pats owner said, according to Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports (on Twitter).

Kraft’s full statement is below (transcript from Mike Florio of PFT):

I felt it was important to make a statement today, prior to the start of training camp. After this, I will not be talking about this matter until after the legal process plays itself out, and I would advise everyone in the organization to do the same and just concentrate on preparation for the 2015 season.

The decision handed down by the league yesterday is unfathomable to me. It is routine for discipline in the NFL to be reduced upon appeal. In the vast majority of these cases, there is tangible and hard evidence of the infraction for which the discipline is being imposed, and still the initial penalty gets reduced. Six months removed from the AFC championship game, the league still has no hard evidence of anybody doing anything to tamper with the PSI levels of footballs.

I continue to believe and unequivocally support Tom Brady. I first and foremost need to apologize to our fans, because I truly believe what I did in May, given the actual evidence of the situation and the league’s history on discipline matters, would make it much easier for the league to exonerate Tom Brady.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

The league’s handling of this entire process has been extremely frustrating and disconcerting. I will never understand why an initial erroneous report regarding the PSI level of footballs was leaked by a source from the NFL a few days after the AFC championship game, [and] was never corrected by those who had the correct information. For four months, that report cast aspersions and shaped public opinion.

Yesterday’s decision by Commissioner was released in a similar manner, under an erroneous headline that read, “Tom Brady destroyed his cellphone.” This headline was designed to capture headlines across the country and obscure evidence regarding the tampering of air pressure in footballs. It intentionally implied nefarious behavior and minimized the acknowledgement that Tom provided the history of every number he texted during that relevant time frame. And we had already provided the league with every cellphone of every non-NFLPA that they requested, including head coach Bill Belichick.

Tom Brady is a person of great integrity, and is a great ambassador of the game, both on and off the field. Yet for reasons that I cannot comprehend, there are those in the league office who are more determined to prove that they were right rather than admit any culpability of their own or take any responsibility for the initiation of a process and ensuing investigation that was flawed.

I have come to the conclusion that this was never about doing what was fair and just. Back in May, I had to make a difficult decision that I now regret. I tried to do what I thought was right. I chose not to take legal action. I wanted to return the focus to football.

I have been negotiating agreements on a global basis my entire life. I know there are times when you have to give up important points of principle to achieve a greater good. I acted in good faith and was optimistic that by taking the actions I took the league would have what they wanted. I was willing to accept the harshest penalty in the history of the NFL for an alleged ball violation because I believed it would help exonerate Tom.

I have often said, ‘If you want to get a deal done, sometimes you have to get the lawyers out of the room.’ I had hoped that Tom Brady’s appeal to the league would provide Roger Goodell the necessary explanation to overturn his suspension. Now, the league has taken the matter to court, which is a tactic that only a lawyer would recommend.

Once again, I want to apologize to the fans of the New England Patriots and Tom Brady. I was wrong to put my faith in the league. Given the facts, evidence, and laws of science that underscore this entire situation, it is completely incomprehensible to me that the league continues to take steps to disparage one of its all-time great players, and a man for whom I have the utmost respect.

Personally, this is very sad and disappointing to me.

9:09am: On Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell decided to uphold Tom Brady‘s four-game suspension and in the process, he asserted that the Patriots quarterback destroyed his phone in an attempt to hide critical evidence from league investigators. We then heard statements from virtually every party involved, with the exception of the accused. That changed this morning when Brady took to Facebook to give his version of events. In a lengthy statement, Brady refuted the notion that he broke his phone in order to conceal evidence:

“I also disagree with yesterdays narrative surrounding my cellphone. I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 AFTER my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under ANY circumstances. As a member of a union, I was under no obligation to set a new precedent going forward, nor was I made aware at any time during Mr. Wells investigation, that failing to subject my cell phone to investigation would result in ANY discipline.

Most importantly, I have never written, texted, emailed to anybody at anytime, anything related to football air pressure before this issue was raised at the AFC Championship game in January. To suggest that I destroyed a phone to avoid giving the NFL information it requested is completely wrong.”

Brady also claimed that “the discipline was upheld without any counter offer” even though multiple reports indicated that there were settlement talks between the two sides before Goodell’s decision was handed down. Either way, Brady is set to serve a four-game suspension, unless a federal court intercedes in the ruling.

Brady Refused NFL’s Settlement Deal

July 28th, 2015 at 8:13pm CST by Zachary Links

Before Roger Goodell upheld Tom Brady’s suspension, he offered to reduce the quarterback’s suspension in exchange for an admission of guilt, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. It is believed that the offer would have dropped the QB’s suspension to at least two games. If Brady was “sufficiently persuasive and profuse in his acceptance of guilt,” the suspension could have been reduced to one game. Ultimately, Brady refused and the suspension remains at four games, pending possible legal intervention.

A with knowledge of the situation told Florio the NFL was willing to drop the suspension by “at least 50 percent” if Brady was willing to meet three requirements:

admitting to having knowledge of whatever John Jastremski and Jim McNally were doing to the footballs
admitting to failing to cooperate with the Ted Wells investigation
apologize

Brady, for unknown reasons, was unwilling to acquiesce to those demands. The Patriots quarterback likely faces an uphill battle in court after it was revealed that he destroyed his cell phone when asked to turn that information over.

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