The NFL Players Association criticized in strong terms the decision by commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday to uphold the four-game suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the “Deflategate” case.
The NFLPA called the ruling “outrageous” and added that league sank to a “new low” with its handling of the case while vowing to appeal on Brady’s behalf.
“The fact that the NFL would resort to basing a suspension on a smoke screen of irrelevant text messages instead of admitting that they have all of the phone records they asked for is a new low, even for them, but it does nothing to correct their errors,” the statement read. “The NFLPA will appeal this outrageous decision on behalf of Tom Brady.”
The NFLPA went on to state that “the Commissioner’s ruling today did nothing to address the legal deficiencies of due process. The NFL remains stuck with the following facts.
“The NFL had no policy that applied to players; the NFL provided no notice of any such policy or potential discipline to players; the NFL resorted to a nebulous standard of ‘general awareness’ to predicate a legally unjustified punishment; the NFL had no procedures in place until two days ago to test air pressure in footballs; and the NFL violated the plain meaning of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.”
