Roger Goodell hints at possibly reducing Tom Brady's suspension


NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is still slated to hear Tom Brady's appeal. At this point, it looks like nothing will stop that from happening. Brady was suspended primarily for his failure to fully cooperate with the investigation.

However, it seems as if Goodell might be willing to reduce Brady's suspension if the quarterback provides the commissioner with some new information or text messages that weren't turned over to Ted Wells as part of the initial investigation.

Michael O'Keefe of The New York Daily News:

“I look forward to hearing directly from Tom if there’s new information,” Goodell said, “information that can be helpful to us in getting this right.”

It sounds as if Goodell really never wanted to suspend Brady in the first place, but did so on principle. While this is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, I can't say I blame him for doing it. By the rule book, the Patriots are repeat offenders and Brady seems to have had a big hand in this. Goodell had to come down hard no matter what because of how badly he botched the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson suspensions, along with countless others.

People can debate all year long whether or not Goodell got this right, but that's another story for another time.

No date for the hearing has been set as of today, but the league and the NFL Players Association have thrown some possible dates around.

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