Patrick Causey, on Twitter @InsdeTheHuddle
It's not every day that my experience as an attorney can come in handy in sports blogging. Today's decision in the case of National Football League Management Council v. National Football League Players Association, aka the Tom Brady Deflate Gate case, is one of the few exceptions.
I've had a chance to read and digest the 40-page order from Judge Richard Berman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and thought a review that removes the legalise might help some people better understand what this decision means for Tom Brady, the NFL and Roger Goodell.
Here are five take-aways in plain English:
1. Tom Brady was not found innocent.
This is one of the most widely held misconceptions about what the Court's decision means. The issue of whether Tom Brady was involved in, or — as the Wells Report found — "generally aware" of tampering with the footballs was not even considered by Judge Berman. Rather, Judge Berman was reviewing the procedure by which the NFL punished Tom Brady to determine whether Brady was afforded due process.
Ultimately, this distinction will be lost on a majority of Americans, and understandably so. However, it remains to be seen whether it will remove the tarnish that has been placed on Brady's legacy as a result of the #DeflateGate scandal.
From an outsider's perspective, there are plenty of reasons to think Brady was involved in some shady activity. The Ted Wells report found that Brady spent over an hour on the phone with John Jastremski, the equipment manager at the heart of the scandal, immediately after the news of the deflated footballs came to light. It also found that Brady conveniently destroyed his phone on the same day he was set to meet Ted Wells, which prevented the NFL from accessing the text messages Brady exchanged with the employees involved in the scandal.
And it found that Jim McNally and John Jastremski sent a series of text messages which strongly implied that Brady preferred the balls be under-inflated, with McNally infamously referring to himself as the "deflator." Possibly most damning, the report found that McNally received autographed memorbilia from Tom Brady, presumably in exchange for the work he performed before the Patriots v. Ravens playoff game.
But thanks to Goodell's ineptitude, it seems that the majority of Americans will forget about Brady's role in the scandal and focus instead on Goodell and the NFL messing this up. In other words, the Deflate Gate scandal will likely be nothing more than a footnote in Brady's otherwise Hall of Fame career.
2.Court's Rarely Overturn Decisions Made In Arbitration
I won't bore you with discussions of "standards of review" (not eve lawyers enjoy that). So just know this: Federal judges rarely overturn arbitration awards. It just does not happen often. The law in this Country compels courts to go to great lengths to respect a decision from an arbitration unless something clearly went wrong. Reading over Judge Berman's order shows that there were so many issues with the way the NFL handled this punishment and subsequent arbitration that Judge Berman felt he had no choice but to overturn the suspension.
To make matters worse, this happened in the Court — the Southern District of New York — that the NFL chose! The lawsuit was originally filed in the District of Minnesota, a court which historically has favored the NFL Players Association. Getting the case moved to New York was hailed by many legal scholars as the "checkmate" moment of the dispute: the NFL was in the court most likely to rule in its favor. And the NFL still lost.
That tells you how bad the NFL overstepped here. It had every reason to win. And it lost. Big.
3. Judge Berman Mainly Overturned The Suspension Because Of The Arbitrary Nature Of The Punishment
If you are so inclined, you can read the entire 40-page order from Judge Berman here. But here are the issues Berman found with the arbitration proceeding and the rules the NFL used to punish Brady:
- Judge Berman obviously took issue with the notion that the Wells Report was independent. By my count, he used quotations around the word "independent" five times, suggesting he questioned Ted Wells' impartiality.
- Judge Berman took issue with the seemingly arbitrary nature the NFL handed out Brady's punishment. There is a clear provision in the CBA which governs how a player should be punished for tampering with equipment: a first time offense would result in a fine of $5,512 with no suspension.
- Brady was instead suspended for four games, which cost him $1.82 million in lost salary.
- Goodell tried to get around this limitation by arguing that he was entitled to punish Brady for engaging in conduct that was "detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence in, the game of professional football." This provision arguably gives Goodell broader discretion in how to discipline a player. Judge Berman flatly rejected this argument, labeling it as "legally misplaced."
- Judge Berman also took issue with the fact that there was no precedent for a player ever being suspended in the NFL for failing to cooperate with an investigation. In other words, Brady was never given notice that he could be suspended for refusing to cooperate with the investigation; the NFL seemingly made that rule up after the fact to justify the suspension;
- Brady was not allowed to question Jeffrey Pash, who was involved in creating the Wells Report, during the arbitration; and
- Brady was denied access to the investigative files and witness notes from the Wells Report.
Simply put, Brady essentially got off on a technicality: the NFL did not follow its own rules and treat Brady fairly, so Judge Berman overturned the suspension.
Some of you might take issue with Tom Brady "beating the system." And you have a fair point.
But consider the following: imagine you are speeding on the highway, going 80 mph in a 70. You get pulled over by the cops, and instead of getting a ticket and points on your license, you get thrown in jail as punishment. There is no law on the books that authorizes you getting thrown in jail for going 10 mph over the speed limit, but the police officer decided that's what he wanted to do in order to "send a message to the rest of the drivers that speeding would not be tolerated."
Don't you think that is taking it too far? Wouldn't you want to be protected from that gross over reaction to an otherwise innocuous offense?
That is essentially what Goodell did here. He wanted to send a message to the league, and creatively used the CBA to justify the heavy suspension he handed out. It was an "ends justify the means" approach to punishment, and Judge Berman did not let Goodell get away with it.
4. The NFL Has Appealed The Ruling, But Has Not Requested A Stay Of Execution
According to Andrew Brandt of NFL.com, the NFL has not surprisingly appealed the decision to the Second Circuit:
NFL has filed appeal. No stay requested. #BradyCase
— Andrew Brandt (@adbrandt) September 3, 2015
However, the NFL has not requested a stay, which means that Tom Brady will be allowed to play football while the appeal is pending.
5. Roger Goodell Has Harmed The NFL In His Quest To Protect It
Saving the most important for last. Somehow, in an effort to clean up the image of the league, Roger Goodell has arguably done more damage to the league than the players he is in charge of disciplining.
Think back over the last two years: Goodell mishandled the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson episodes, suspending them for much longer than the CBA allowed.
In an effort to avoid these mistakes, Goodell and the NFL front office created an entirely new system for handling player punishment. Goodell promised the players and the public more consistency, transparency and neutral third-party oversight in player discipline matters moving forward.
Instead of following through on that promise, the NFL continued with its habit of self-inflicted wounds by arbitrarily handing out punishment to players without regard to the rules in place.
First it was Greg Hardy, who was actually convicted of an absolutely despicable act of domestic violence. Instead of punishing Hardy under the rules that were in place at the time of the Hardy incident — which he absolutely had to do — Goodell tried to apply the new policy he just created so that he could give Hardy a longer suspension. That 10-game suspension was reduced to 4 games, and if Hardy appeals (which many people suspect that he will), it could be reduced even further.
Now, Hardy — who threw his girlfriend on a couch of assault riffles and threatened to kill her — was seen as the victim because of Goodell's overreach.
And now this. Goodell took a shot at the most decorated franchise and arguably the best quarterback of this generation and missed badly, leaving a huge mark on the face of the NFL and practically exonerating Brady for any malfeasance in the eyes of the average fan.
Consider Goodell's track record in handing out player discipline:
Roger Goodell's suspensions have a history of being reduced after external review. pic.twitter.com/qLlLZjJH1y
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) September 3, 2015
Can anyone honestly trust Goodell anymore? Whenever he gives a press conference, is any reasonable human believing 1/8th of the things coming out of his mouth? Goodell's missteps haven't hurt the NFL's bottom line, so it is unlikely that he will get fired. But something needs to change in order to avoid one manufactured drama after another. The best case scenario would be Goodell being removed from handing out discipline to the players. He likely will fight that concession tooth and nail. But in the long run, it is what is best for the league.
