DeMaurice Smith Comments on Tom Brady's Appeal, Deflategate and the Wells Report

With the appeal of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's suspension for his alleged role in the Deflategate scandal looming, NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith sounded off Friday on ESPN's Outside the Lines.

Just as the Patriots organization has been, Smith was extremely critical of Ted Wells' report on Deflategate and suggested it wasn't truly unbiased due to Wells' previous relationship with the NFL, according to Christopher Price of WEEI.com:

In addition, Smith believes the NFL higher-ups wanted the Wells report to incriminate Brady and the Patriots as a whole, per Ben Volin of the Boston Globe:

Another point of contention among those fighting Brady's four-game suspension is the fact that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is set to oversee the hearing. The NFLPA requested Goodell recuse himself from the appeal process. 

According to Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said no decision has been made by the NFL at this time, though a decision is expected to be announced next week.

CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora previously reported the NFL denied the appeal:

La Canfora later clarified his comments:

As Volin noted, Smith is hopeful that Goodell will recuse himself:

Smith said if Goodell doesn't make a decision in what the NFLPA believes is a timely matter, he intends to make his stance even clearer, per Doug Kyed of NESN:

While Patriots owner Robert Kraft accepted the punishment handed down to the Patriots organization and will not appeal, the Brady situation is far from resolved.

It is clear Smith and the NFLPA believe Brady's suspension should be lessened or eradicated.

Something ultimately has to give, and if the NFLPA isn't able to get Goodell to recuse himself, it undoubtedly stands a tougher chance at securing a favorable result.

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