To no surprise, Commissioner Roger Goodell informed the NFL Players Association on Tuesday that he won’t be recusing himself from the appeal of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension. To even less of a surprise, Goodell concluded that he can preside over the Brady appeal because he is not a “necessary” or “central” witness in the case.
In his letter to the NFLPA, Goodell compares the Brady case to the Ray Rice appeal process, in which Goodell stepped aside because he was a central witness regarding the “fundamental dispute over what Mr. Rice told me in a meeting at the league office.