if the NFL wins, this is what it will mean:
Roger Goodell can do literally whatever the hell he wants. Period. He will be able to literally make stuff up. To fabricate evidence. To demand personal, private information from players and if they don't give it to him, he can penalize them for that. He can issue witch hunts and fishing expeditions. He can draw nefarious conclusions from the flimsiest of "evidence". He can deny fairness to any player he wants. He can be the prosecutor, the judge, the jury, the executioner, and also the appellate judge. He can issue any penalty he wants for any violation he wants, so long as he couches it as a matter of the "integrity of the game". If he can do it to Brady, he can do it to anyone, for whatever reason he wants.
That's what is at stake here for the players.