Roger Goodell Confirms He Will Hear Tom Brady's Deflategate Suspension Appeal

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will not recuse himself from hearing the appeal for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who is fighting a four-game suspension for his role in Deflategate.

The NFL Players Association filed a formal request May 19 asking Goodell to appoint an independent arbitrator in his place for Brady's hearing. 

Per NFL Network's Albert Breer, Goodell has issued an official statement explaining why he will not be recusing himself from the case:

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Our Collective Bargaining Agreement provides that "at his discretion," the Commissioner may serve as hearing officer in "any appeal" involving conduct detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence in, the game of professional football. I will exercise that discretion to hear Mr. Brady's appeal. I have carefully reviewed the NFLPA's recusal motion of May 19 as well as Mr. Nash's response of May 22. (Neither party requested to be heard on the matter.) Based on the unambiguous language and structure of the CBA, as well as common sense, I conclude that none of the arguments advanced by the NFLPA has merit.

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Goodell highlighted three specific reasons for rejecting the NFLPA's request to recuse himself from Brady's appeal, per Breer:

Goodell is taking a different stance than he did in the appeal involving Ray Rice, in which the NFL and the NFLPA agreed to have a neutral arbitrator hear the case for the former Baltimore Ravens running back's indefinite suspension.

Per Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, Goodell explained how the Brady case is different from the one involving Rice:

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I do not have any first-hand knowledge of any of the events at issue. (That fact makes this matter very different from the Rice appeal, in which there was a fundamental dispute over what Mr. Rice told me in a meeting at the league office.) Nor did I play a role in the investigation that led to Mr. Brady's discipline. Furthermore, there is no reasonable basis for dispute -- or for any testimony -- about authority for the discipline reflected in the letter signed by Mr. Vincent. The letter itself is clear on this point. And there is no basis for my testifying about prior instances in which discipline was considered or imposed for similar conduct; if that were the case, the NFLPA could seek my recusal in every conduct detrimental proceeding, directly contrary to our agreement that I have the "discretion" to hear "any" appeal.

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The key point Goodell makes is he does not "have any firsthand knowledge of any of the events at issue" involving Brady's case, while the Rice case featured "a fundamental dispute" over what was said in a meeting at the NFL's offices.

Brady's appeal is set to begin June 23 and could possibly run through June 25, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. If his four-game suspension isn't overturned, the reigning Super Bowl MVP is scheduled to return October 18 at Indianapolis.

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

The Patriots have been getting second-year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo ready in case he is asked to be the starter when the regular season begins, having him take around half of the first-team reps during OTAs, according to ESPN.com's Mike Reiss.

The last time the Patriots had to play without Brady for a long stretch of games was in 2008, when he tore his ACL in Week 1. Matt Cassel started the final 15 games and led the team to a 10-5 record, though it missed the postseason.

Now that the particulars are in place for Brady's appeal, he can begin to mount his defense to get the suspension overturned or at least reduced. The future Hall of Famer has developed a legendary reputation for succeeding against long odds, so he will need to bring that with him to the appeal later this month.