Tom Brady officially appeared his four-game suspension in connection with the Deflategate scandal. The NFL quickly said that Commissioner Roger Goodell would hear the case, but the NFL Players Association wants a neutral arbitrator.
The New England Patriots quarterback was suspended on Monday, nearly a week after Ted Wells’ investigation was released. The report found that Brady “was at least generally aware” that footballs were being deflated before the AFC Championship game in January in violation of NFL regulations.
Brady’s agent, Don Yee, came out swinging against the suspension and Brady reportedly hired attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who has won appeals against the NFL in the past. Also in response to the Wells report, the Patriots launched WellsReportContext.com to debunk the findings in the report, point-by-point.
The four-time Super Bowl champion did get the appeal in on time Thursday and Goodell appointed himself arbitrator in the case, reports NFL.com.
The NFLPA issued a letter Thursday to NFL executive VP Troy Vincent, first insisting that only the commissioner could discipline players, not Vincent. “You have no authority to impose discipline on Mr. Brady under the CBA, and such discipline must therefore be set aside,” the letter reads.
“Mr. Brady’s discipline is premised solely upon the Wells Report, which contains insufficient evidence to find that Mr. Brady committed any violation of NFL rules,” NFLPA General Counsel Tom DePaso wrote later. “Indeed, the Report is wrought with unsupported speculation regarding Mr. Brady’s purported knowledge of, and involvement with, two Patriots employees’ purported conduct, and grasps at dubious, contradictory and mischaracterized circumstantial evidence merely to conclude that it is ‘more probable than not’ that Mr. Brady was ‘generally aware of’ ‘inappropriate activities.’”
DePaso also wrote that Goodell should not be the arbitrator in this case. He suggested Judge Barbara Jones, who heard the Ray Rice case and overturned Rice’s suspension, also hear Brady’s case.
“The credibility and testimony of both you and Commissioner Goodell will be at issue in the hearing as well as numerous procedural issues regarding your testimony and the testimony of the Commissioner,” DePaso wrote.
In addition to Brady’s suspension, the Patriots were fined $1 million, lost its first round draft pick in 2016 and lost the fourth round pick in 2017.
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