Zo & Bertrand: Both Tom Brady And Roger Goodell Should Want To Settle
BOSTON (CBS) -- An interesting article from Sports Illustrated caught the attention of Zolak & Bertrand this week, as the Patriots wrapped up minicamp and OTAs in Foxboro.
The article, written by Melissa Jacobs, was titled, "Why Roger Goodell should settle with Tom Brady." So it certainly raised some eyebrows in New England.
But what if the narrative of this saga concluded in a stunning finale? What if Goodell, now clearly in the driver's seat, changed his mind and settled with Brady? Give a little. A four-game suspension cut to two. Just think about it.
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The league could easily frame the messaging in reality: enough is enough. Let's end this sideshow with a two-game agreement and get back to football.
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By settling, Goodell personally has much to gain. In a crazy twist of fate, he might be viewed as, don't laugh, a peacemaker. The fatigue from this case is so prevalent that even the instigator would get bonus points for ending it. And certainly now, with the power of the Second Circuit decision behind him, Goodell would be viewed as settling magnanimity instead of expediency.
Marc Bertrand discussed the idea of the NFL offering Brady a two-game suspension as a settlement. Scott Zolak said that would never be accepted.
"No," Zolak said. "I thought you were gonna read to me that she was suggesting that there would be a hefty fine, like a half-a-million-dollar fine and let's play ball. I think the only way Brady settles would be to admit, 'Maybe I handled things the wrong way with the cell phone and hey, they at least knew how to get me those balls even though I never gave a code red of what number it would be, and I will pay a $500,000 fine and let's go play ball.'
"Based on how Brady's acted and who he's hired down the home stretch here, I just think there's no intention of even settling, that he wants this thing completely vacated. But if you pick up the phone and call the camp and say, 'Hey, let's start talking around two.' Then it already cuts it in half. Four [games] is ridiculous; he'd never [say], 'Me being away from my team for a month would kill my team.' If you can get into Brady's head and say, 'Well, you'd miss Arizona and Miami at home, then we'll get you back on the field for Week 3.' At some point too, Brady knows, 'I gotta do what's right for this football team.' There's a lot of guys who are, I don't want to say sitting in limbo, but they're wondering the same thing we are -- will we have our quarterback?
Bertrand said if the offer for two games is on the table, Brady shouldn't hesitate.
"If they call up and offer him two, he should take it right now," Beetle said. "Take it. Take it and be over with."
Zo disagreed, though not entirely.
"I'd take the phone call," he said. "At some point, Brady will say, 'I'm sick of it too.' But if you already cut it in half with two, maybe he takes the call. And think about it. For him to not be with his team, the best time to do that is at the beginning of the year.
"I'm tired of this, I'm sure he's tired of it, the team's tired of it," Zo added. "And at some point, they've got to know how to start the year. You need a mentality to start. We can't just continually go through every practice where he's taking every rep and we still don't have an answer on it. It's not fair to him, it's not fair to Bill [Belichick], it's not fair to the 52 other members of that team, and it's not fair to [Jimmy] Garoppolo."
OK ... but two games?
"Oh, I'd get this thing over with," Bertrand said. "If I were him, you just don't want to be dealing with this."
"You know what I'd do?" Zo replied. "I'd throw one in their face. If you're coming down, you're calling me for two? Put it at one, and we're done. We are done."
Zo and Bertrand both agreed that Goodell would, somehow, end up looking good if he were able to convince the other owners that a settlement was the right course of action.
"At some point, he goes up to Maine, and he likes his investment there. But you hear stories of people that have run him out of the local supermarket there," Zolak said of Goodell. "At some point, his quality of life outside of being the commissioner, he might just want to enjoy life a little bit. Because it seems like this is wearing on him. Every time you see him, he looks older."
Listen to the full segment below:
