Will Brady chose to take a Four Game FINE to get off on the Four Game Suspension?

Chiuba E. Obele said:

Mike Florio seems to think that could be the case. BUT GOD DAMN!! How much more cynical will Deflategate become?! Will anyone ever come out, take a principled stand, and do what's right? I swear, if Brady so much as dare to compromise with Kim Jong Goodell, I don't know if I'll ever recover!

God forbid it ever comes to that

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/28/could-a-deal-be-done-in-the-tom-brady-case/related/

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Among media and serious fans, there's almost nobody who seems to think Goodell is a fair, competent, relatively honorable dispenser of justice. I include in that the haters who have somehow convinced themselves that the Patriots and Brady are getting off light, or who are admitting that this case is highly exaggerated/trumped up, but believe it's being used as a pretext to punish for other stuff that is real.

robertweathers said:

Even worse is that two humans are damaged for life because of those a-holes. Pay them a $1m each to make their lives a little easier.

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Haters are asserting that the Pats have already bought the guys off.

DarrylS said:

But that is based on the assumption that they "acted" and discounts the climate issues.. they may not have done anything at all to the footballs..

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My personal position is that they didn't do a damn thing to the footballs. My post is about creating some kind of story that ends it gracefully for Goody & Brady and the little guys take the bullet.

My contention is that this investigation is no longer about deflate footballs. It now about saving face publicly while preserving Brady's innocence and Goody's authority.

With that said there can be some kind of revised statement saying that Anderson used one or both of the pressure gauges that produced a higher/lower reading and McNally took air out/put air in and have the story align at some level with AEI, Exponent etc.

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

knew WHAT?

That 2 of 11 footballs were 0.3 psi low, and 3 of 11 footballs were 0.3 psi high, with an error in measurement of +/- 0.4?

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Yeah
And he probably made note of that on his phone

Fencer said:

Haters are asserting that the Pats have already bought the guys off.

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Maybe. As employees of the Patriots or via their testimony from the Wells Report, they could be under some kind of confidentiality agreement.

It was reported that Matt Walsh was also under a confidentiality agreement (denied by the Pats) so who knows..

The only way Goodell comes to his senses is if Brady's lawyers so embarrassed the nfl's legal team and wells that Goodell knows they will be made to look like fools in court especially when the transcript of the appeal hearing has to come to light.

fnordcircle said:

If he was fined for not cooperating but the league released a statement that after further review it could find no proof of wrongdoing by Tom I think Brady would have to at least consider it.

But the league will never do that because they've backed themselves into a corner. Or more precisely, imo, a weak Goodell was pushed into a corner by underlings *cough* Kensil *cough*.

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Ppl say that, and I think it probably is a case of the tail wagging the dog on this, but even after his underlings set this in motion he can look at it just like any of us can and do the right thing.

His father was a man of integrity who sacrificed his career to do the right thing - I doubt the price would be that high for goodell over these petty football issues.

Goodell wasn't pushed into a corner, he walked himself over there

eom said:

Ppl say that, and I think it probably is a case of the tail wagging the dog on this, but even after his underlings set this in motion he can look at it just like any of us can and do the right thing.

His father was a man of integrity who sacrificed his career to do the right thing - I doubt the price would be that high for goodell over these petty football issues.

Goodell wasn't pushed into a corner, he walked himself over there

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Goodell painted himself into a corner and threw away the key.

A four game fine for Brady would be nearly 2 million dollars. The maximum amount the league can fine a team (as in, an entire billion dollar business) is $500,000.

Also, no way in hell the PA allows a player to play for four weeks and risk injury for 0 dollars.

I still don't see how Pats can get docked draft picks and a HUGE fine if Brady is exonerated of all charges except failing to turn his phone over to that phone(y) Wells......

Chiuba E. Obele said:

Mike Florio seems to think that could be the case. BUT GOD DAMN!! How much more cynical will Deflategate become?! Will anyone ever come out, take a principled stand, and do what's right? I swear, if Brady so much as dare to compromise with Kim Jong Goodell, I don't know if I'll ever recover!

God forbid it ever comes to that

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/28/could-a-deal-be-done-in-the-tom-brady-case/related/

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Florio's comments and Gary Myers' (NY Daily News) articles the day after the Appeal and again in Sunday's paper are so similar in tone that they suggest that the NFL is floating trial balloons in an effort to find a way out of the mess in which it finds itself. Both Florio and Myers acknowledge that Brady will have to be exonerated and they both suggest the fig leaf of some penalty for non compliance as a way out for Goodell.

I think Goodell was genuinely blindsided by how bad the Wells report was. Myers suggested complete exoneration on the underlying "crime," but two games for failing to "fully co-operate" (whatever that means) with Wells. But, just as quickly as he wrote that sentence, he immediately added that the problem with that was the most recent precedent is the $50,000 fine to Favre for a similar "offense."

It's interesting that both Florio and Myers assume that Brady will be (has to be?) exonerated of complicity in the fabricated "scheme" to deflate the balls. They are both well connected to 345 Park (especially Myers) and this is probably coming from from the horse's mouth. The League knows it will lose on this point in any court.

So, what is the shape of a compromise that exonerates Brady and enables the League to save what little face it has left?

I don't see Brady accepting two games, but I could see him taking one game or the $250,000 max just to get this over with, as long as Yee gets to do a final edit of the paragraph that exonerates him.

I could see Brady accepting that because "anything can happen" once you get to court and both Yee and Brady know that if he gets the wrong judge, the whole thing could blow up in his face. So, there is a tipping point at which that risk exceeds the benefits of taking an imperfect deal. In negotiating terms, I think that that's what both sides are now trying to find.

I also think that the League is using Myers (and now Florio) to drive a wedge between Brady and the NFLPA. Once Brady is exonerated, their interests are no longer completely in synch.

eom said:

Ppl say that, and I think it probably is a case of the tail wagging the dog on this, but even after his underlings set this in motion he can look at it just like any of us can and do the right thing.

His father was a man of integrity who sacrificed his career to do the right thing - I doubt the price would be that high for goodell over these petty football issues.

Goodell wasn't pushed into a corner, he walked himself over there

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Yes and no. There are two sides to Goody's incompetence.

He doesn't have institutional control over his organization and his subordinates. There is giving your people latitude in doing their jobs and there is chaos. He allows for chaos. Hes just a bad manager and his policies are either misunderstood or they are executing his vision to a "T". In either case, that's pathetic leadership.

On the other hand, I believe that with something of the magnitude of deflating balls during a conference championship game, Gardi absolutely made Goody aware of the issue the night of/morning after telling him that he was sending a letter to Kraft......and chose to do nothing. The prudent thing to do - seeing that hes a master of PR and well aware of "The Shield's" brand he should have suppressed /denied this whole thing and take a methodical but measured and urgent approach to this issue and also be much more sensitive to the Patriots brand in the process.

Chiuba E. Obele said:

And for those very reasons, the NFLPA would never want him to accept a deal like that

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Once Brady is exonerated, in language acceptable to Yee, the interests of Brady and the NFLPA are no longer 100% in synch. I could see him accepting the $250 or maybe one game to make this all go away.

Remember, that, at that point, Brady's calculation has to include the risk of getting an unsympathetic Judge who could blow the whole thing up in his face.

Once the League accepts, as I think it has, that any deal has to include a complete exoneration of Brady for the underlying, fabricated and non-existent "crime," then it's a matter of finding the point that represents the most that Brady feels he can accept and the least the League feels it can give to avoid a trip to Court, which brings risks for both sides.

BlueThunder said:

I still don't see how Pats can get docked draft picks and a HUGE fine if Brady is exonerated of all charges except failing to turn his phone over to that phone(y) Wells......

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That's theoretical at this point, but will be a very interesting discussion when it (hopefully) comes to pass. We still don't know what Kraft's "end game" in all of this is.

Triumph said:

Goodell painted himself into a corner and threw away the key.

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Mixed metaphor alert!!

Chiuba E. Obele said:

And for those very reasons, the NFLPA would never want him to accept a deal like that

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Yeah, there's significant problems with it. Also, if he's playing but is being fined the totality of the game, he's essentially working for free. I don't think the NFLPA would be cool with a precedent for serfdom.

Sicilian said:

A four game fine for Brady would be nearly 2 million dollars. The maximum amount the league can fine a team (as in, an entire billion dollar business) is $500,000.

Also, no way in hell the PA allows a player to play for four weeks and risk injury for 0 dollars.

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If Brady is exonerated, it doesn't matter what the NFLPA thinks about it, as its interests are no longer completely aligned with Brady's. But I would agree that Brady would never accept a four game suspension for a minor infraction like failing to turn over his cell phone records when the precedent is $50,000 for Favre.

The question is, how much is it worth to Brady, assuming he is completely exonerated of involvement in any real or imagined scheme to "deflate" footballs in language acceptable to Yee, to put the matter behind him and not open himself to the risks of a court proceeding that could go the wrong way?

In other words, what is the equivalent of the Pareto Optimal for Brady and the League (imperfect analogy, I admit, so no need for long discourses on the theory of Pareto Efficiency). I think it's somewhere in the range of one game and the max fine of $250,000, assuming complete exoneration on the most significant charge.

primetime said:

Yeah, there's significant problems with it. Also, if he's playing but is being fined the totality of the game, he's essentially working for free. I don't think the NFLPA would be cool with a precedent for serfdom.

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the problem for the NFLPA is that once Brady is completely exonerated for complicity in "deflategate," his interests and those of the NFLPA are no longer 100% in alignment. They are not necessarily at odds, but they are no longer completely in synch.

I think, as I said above and in another thread yesterday, that the League is using Myers and to some extent now Florio to drive a wedge between Brady and the PA.

BlueThunder said:

I still don't see how Pats can get docked draft picks and a HUGE fine if Brady is exonerated of all charges except failing to turn his phone over to that phone(y) Wells......

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Because commishpowerz

Triumph said:

Goodell painted himself into a corner and threw away the key.

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Yeah, that's pretty much what Gary Myers implied without directly stating it in his article on Wednesday and again in Sunday's paper.