Saints QB Drew Brees has long been critical of Roger Goodell’s decision making and the punishments he’s handed down—especially regarding how he handled the bounty scandal in 2012.
So when there was talk of the league’s new personal conduct policy reducing some of Goodell’s power, Brees weighed in about the possibility on Wednesday during a news conference (via Nick Underhill of the New Orleans Advocate).
“I think this has been a long time coming,” Brees said. “It’s really unfortunate that all of this had to happen for this to transpire, for this to become evident. I think that a lot of us on the Players Association side have known for a long time and have pushed for a long time. Now the public knows, now the fan community knows. It’s the right thing.”
He also drew comparisons between how Goodell handled the Ray Rice situation versus the bounty scandal.
“The same things I’ve heard, the quotes that were thrown out at members of the Saints’ organization in regards to why they were being punished — things such as ‘ignorance is no excuse’ and ‘if you didn’t know you should have known’ — would absolutely apply in this case,” Brees said. “Except the roles are reversed and it’s going back at Commissioner Goodell and the league office.”
Brees also spoke about a potential checks and balances system to ensure the league is making decisions that are in the best interest of all parties involved.
“I think anytime somebody has unilateral decisions over the decision and appeals process, there’s no system of checks and balances,” Brees said. “I think this, with the addition of experts in the fields, in which these policies — new policies will be created and certainly oversight of those policies, the actual handing down of punishment and handling the appeals process, if you got the [NFL Players Association], the NFL front office, independent experts involved in those decisions, you feel like the right decision will be made every time.”
Brees raises some good points here. Implementing a system of checks and balances could certainly help ensure that future decisions are made in the best interest of everyone—rather than putting the league office’s needs first.