NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell just ate crow when the four-game suspension he slapped on New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was vacated by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman on Thursday.
This news should be making plenty of NFL players happy.
In a recent poll conducted by ESPN of over 100 NFL players, 88 percent said that Goodell should not be the ultimate authority on assigning discipline.
The complete 13-question survey mainly focused on Brady, the Patriots and Deflategate, which turned out mixed results on some other questions.
For instance, 72 percent of those surveyed think the Patriots deflated the footballs used in the AFC title game against the Indianapolis Colts. However, most players (84 percent) are not upset with the team for deflating the footballs.
That’s probably because of the players polled, 68 percent of them think other teams also illegally tamper with the game balls.
When it came to Brady’s four-game suspension, 78 percent of those polled said he should be suspended fewer than four games. Only three percent thought he should get more games. And, had Brady sat out of the Patriots first four games, an overwhelming 85 percent of those surveyed believed that the Patriots would still make it to the playoffs.
Now that Brady’s four games have been wiped away, perhaps even a higher percent of players would fear the Patriots as a playoff contender this season.
As for Goodell deciding NFL punishments, it seems clear his failure to make Brady’s punishment stick should be the starting ground for the NFL to overhaul a very broken system.