NFL players union calls the NFL's punishment of Tom Brady and others 'inconsistent, completely arbitrary, and frankly, made up'

The NFL Players Association is using the NFL's own decisions against them to fight Tom Brady's four-game suspension.

In taking the NFL to court to have Brady's suspension overturned, the NFLPA is basically arguing that the NFL's past rulings in cases don't make any sense.

George Atallah, a representative of the NFLPA, went on "The Dan Patrick Show" and argued as much, ripping the NFL's inconsistency in its punishments:

"In some cases, I'm not really sure what they're doing," Atallah said. "Because the disciplinary issues and decisions they have been involved with over the past five years or so, have been inconsistent, completely arbitrary, and frankly, made up. And so, it's not just Tom's case - we go back to [the New Orleans Saints' bounty case], we go back to Ray Rice, we go back to Adrian Peterson, we go to Greg Hardy, and right on down the line.

"So, this is not just an example of, 'Yeah, they want to make an example of Tom Brady.' This is a situation, frankly, they get themselves into pretty frequently."

According to ProFootball Talk's Mike Florio, in the NFLPA's 54-page lawsuit they filed, they even go back to a 2009 case when a member of the New York Jets equipment team was suspended for attempting to use unapproved equipment before the game. There was no investigation and the kicker did not get in trouble.

Florio writes:

"As the NFLPA points out, the NFL did not investigate or discipline the Jets kicker for 'general awareness' or specific involvement, even though the Jets kicker (like Brady in this case) was the player most likely to benefit from the behavior and, in turn, the player most likely to be aware of the conduct."

...

"So why suspend Brady under a policy that applies to teams and not players? At paragraph 108 of the lawsuit, the NFLPA claims that 'a fine would not have quenched other NFL owners' thirst for a more draconian penalty.'"

 

Nobody is quite sure how this case is going to play out or for how long. Both sides have convincing arguments against the other, and it seems no matter what the court ruling is, one side will feel they got the short end of the stick.