NFLPA Formally Requests Goodell Recuse Himself As Brady Arbitrator
BOSTON (CBS) -- Robert Kraft may be giving up his fight against the NFL, but the league's Player's Association is moving on with their appeal of Tom Brady's suspension.
On Tuesday, just hours after Kraft spoke to the media in San Francisco at the NFL Spring Meetings, the NFLPA formally requested Goodell recuse himself as the arbitrator in Tom Brady's disciplinary appeal.
The NFLPA released the following statement:
"The NFLPA has formally requested that Commissioner Roger Goodell recuse himself as the arbitrator in Tom Brady's disciplinary appeal. Given a process that has contained procedural violations of our collective bargaining agreement, the Commissioner's role as a central witness in the appeal hearing and his evident partiality with respect to the Wells report, the Commissioner must designate a neutral party to serve as an arbitrator in this matter. The players also believe that the Commissioner's history of inconsistently issuing discipline against our players makes him ill-suited to hear this appeal in a fair-minded manner.
"If the NFL believes the Ted Wells report has credibility because it is independent, then the NFL should embrace our request for an independent review."
The NFL suspended Brady for four games following the release of the Wells Report, which found that Brady was "generally aware" that two Patriot employees engaged in inappropriate conduct regarding the footballs ahead of the AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium.
Goodell named himself the arbitrator of the case after the NFLPA submitted Brady's appeal last week.
The league also fined the Patriots $1 million and docked them a first-round and fourth-round draft pick. Kraft said on Tuesday the team will "reluctantly" accept the punishment and will not appeal.