NFL rejects NFLPA request that Roger Goodell recuse himself from Tom Brady hearing

The NFLPA was hoping that asking Roger Goodell to not hear the Tom Brady DeflateGate appeal would work — it didn’t.

After hoping that asking nicely would get Roger Goodell to do something for someone other than himself, the NFLPA saw their request for the commissioner to recuse himself from the Tom Brady hearing rejected on Friday afternoon. The NFLPA formally requested Goodell recuse himself from the Brady DeflateGate appeal, but that’s simply not going to happen.

What this means is, the fate of Tom Brady rests in the hands of the man who initially suspended him over deflating footballs in the AFC Championship game this pat year.

It seems like a conflict of interest, as the judge is the executioner, but Goodell and the NFL doesn’t see it that way.

This is bad news for any hope that Tom Brady will win an appeal against the NFL for suspending him. By logic, the odds are stacked against Brady anyways, but the fact that the NFL isn’t willing to budge on having Goodell hear the appeal is a bad omen.

There is a slim glimmer of hope that this could all work out in Brady’s favor, as Goodell has smoothed things over with Robert Kraft and there might be some sort of wink-wink agreement between the two men. That agreement could be reducing Brady’s suspension to two games, and Goodell refusing to recuse himself could mean that he wants to make sure the agreement with Kraft is seen through to the end.

One major problem with this idea is that is paints Goodell as a decent commissioner, which he has hardly shown himself to be in the past. He’s not a guy who hands out favors like he’s running things on Capitol Hill — he’s more cut out of the Frank Underwood cloth than anything.

Goodell will hear Brady’s appeal, and that’s that. What it means is yet to be determined but it’s not looking good in Patriots land as far as getting Brady’s suspension reduced.

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