This clearly is not a good thing for Brady, the Patriots or the NFLPA. Yesterday Tom Brady officially filed his appeal of the four game suspension he is facing for his alleged role in “deflate gate”. The Players Association had asked for an independent person to hear the appeal, but because of the power Goodell has, he declined and instead appointed himself as the person to hear the appeal, which obviously is a clear conflict of interest.
@IamJoeSports
“Commissioner Goodell will hear the appeal of Tom Brady’s suspension in accordance with the process agreed upon with the NFL Players Association in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement Thursday night.
The players union messed up a few years ago by allowing Goodell to have the chance to do things like this with final say, even though he is the same person who hands down the discipline in the first place.
“Given the NFL’s history of inconsistency and arbitrary decisions in disciplinary matters, it is only fair that a neutral arbitrator hear this appeal,” the union said in a release Thursday afternoon. “If Ted Wells and the NFL believe, as their public comments stated, that the evidence in their report is ‘direct’ and ‘inculpatory,’ then they should be confident enough to present their case before someone who is truly independent.”
News of Goodell’s decision was earlier reported by ESPN and Bleacher Report.
Goodell hired Wells to investigate Brady and the Patriots, and deferred the choice of punishment to NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent. Wells’ findings led Vincent to suspend Brady for the first four games of the upcoming season.
Brady’s chance of winning his appeal or having the suspension reduced are going to be very slim with Goodell ruling.
