Mr. WEO

It doesn't. You said "even when the player clearly engages back and have active, meetings, and open discussions in response", after being contacted by a team, he should be liable for punishment because "the player may not" do this. That's not the rule. Only if the player initiates the discussion is he at risk. The rule does not say, if contacted, "players may not" talk to teams , etc. In fact players are not obligated to report this illicit contact by a team to the NFL, but a team is required to notify the league of illicit tampering contact by a player (as you noted above). This is explicitly why the League didn't and can't punish Brady in this case.

lol --that's why hers is an idiotic conclusion. The NFL can't possibly predetermine a list of all possible bad acts that would violate the personal conduct policy.

They could have appointed Slippin Jimmy as their arbitrator, wouldn't matter. She is playing a role in this staged drama and she delivered the performance that was scripted for her: take a headline making case all summer and hear the evidence, take an inordinately long time to come up with the laughably low suspension to produce the necessary (and predicted) public outcry for the NFL to step in and bump it up to where they wanted it---all the while promoting this as a "new" and "improved" system of justice for the players and NFLPA, exactly as bargained for in the last CBA.

You can top feeling that way because it doesn't say that at all. If a team reaches out to a player--the team is tampering and faces penalty. That's it. If a player reaches out to a team, the team is supposed to report it to the NFL. No player in the NFL is bound to report tampering to the NFL. It's the same in the NBA. MLB has the same rule. So does the NHL. Why are people acting as if they have just learned about tampering and its rules?

players don’t get suspended for talking to teams when teams aren’t supposed to be talking to them

She absolutely described it as novel—in fact she said “his pattern of conduct is more egregious than ever before reviewed by the NFL”. Clearly she is also acknowledging more than 4 cases.

Her role was to set a ridiculously low suspension (the idiotic reasoning makes her performance a bit less authentic) so that the NFL can come with the righteous thunder of “this will not stand!”… Everyone is playing their part.

Interesting that the NFL drops the hammer on an owner just as they are contemplating an appeal off the Watson suspension. This one isn't hard to figure out. NFL is the entity playing 5D chess.....

The impact is that it will neutralize the NFLPA claim (and dull a potential argument in Federal court) that the NFL doesn't punish the owners the way it does players, thus paving the way for a yearlong suspension for Watson.

Her reasoning is incredibly dumb: “NFL is attempting to impose a more dramatic shift in its culture without the benefit of fair notice to – and consistency of consequence – for those in the NFL subject to the Policy. While it may be entirely appropriate to more severely discipline players for non-violent sexual conduct, I do not believe it is appropriate to do so without notice of the extraordinary change this position portends for the NFL and its players.” How on earth is the NFL supposed to anticipate every way in which its players can potentially and serially abuse others, so that they can't print out a suspension schedule for this or that? She states his abuse was unprecedented in NFL annals,.....yet says he only gets the 6 gamer because, you know, he didn't know he might suspended for more. She accuses the NFL of changing its culture....without fair notice!!! Come on---that team went 2 full seasons with only one victory! These scumbag Haslams will take this W

Barkley is the only QB coach Josh needs whispering in his ear.....

I believe in the past Ross said he wasn't serious about the offer.... Well, the League is a Defendant in the suit so......he won't likely claim the League was harmed.

Exactly. Conceding it was said but that no one else took him seriously when he said it is better than lying about not having said it when their are witnesses who can corroborate he said it. The tanking claim was his best shot. "Fake interviews" are hard to prove and even if they happened, so what? What harm is done? He would have to prove he was harmed/damaged by a fake interview process (as opposed to no interview at all) to succeed in his suit. Good luck....

And it concluded the nature in which FLores claims to have interpreted them isn't valid. Flores would be free to challenge the legitimacy of the independent reviewer. I'm pretty sure the reviewer would be able to anticipate this same thing he probably hears all the time and would easily defend his position. This would likely included his interviews with others present or who knew details of the story which led him to conclude as he did. Or....the Defendants could simply depose Hue Jackson as an example of a coach was "offered a bribe to tank". LOL.

I don't see where he established a relationship with JC in his brief time away, so I think we're done with him.

Josh doesn't do things other than play great football to reemain in the conversation. Rodgers has to resort to this stuff and his usual drama to remain relevant in the public mind. Aaron don't care... Having the #1 scoring Offense in the NFL didn't work out too well either. Jones with 9 rushing and 2 receiving TDs, All Pro Adams with 115 catches and 18 TDs, Tonyan 52/59 and 11 TDs, M V-S 690 yards (21 YPC!) and 6 TDs. You're right, what a waste...

we deserve updates!! should we be praying for him??

Players cannot be charged with tampering. They are tampered with. It just got harder for him to prove. NFL/Fins can just call the independent investigator as a witness to testify about his findings/conclusions.

"Suspending" an owner is as silly as it sounds. lol--can't hang around the "facility" and sniff jocks until october. View from the owners suite will be the same on Sunday's. Anyway, this didn't turn out quite like Flores had hoped......essentially the NFL has blown him off.

I agree. Brown only looked above average by comparison. Ditto Sanders. Beasely was a better pickup than either of them. Now is the season they have to cash in on all this. SB or bust!

"constructed an Offensive line that can support him"? That's still a work in progress (hence all the talk in the piece of the hits Josh takes--not all are downfield).

He's not a good QB. The best QB in the NFL won 11 of 17 games with that roster around him. There was an 8 game stretch around the bye where the Bills won 3.

That's always their goal. A year, symbolically, is a big blow. They may not give him that. But yeah, the 6 games this judge settled on is ridiculous. It's not impossible that all of this is according to plan--she gives some silly lowball number, prompting the appropriate public outrage, and the NFL steps in and ups to double in a show of justice for women (viewers). The NFL is TV's most popular and longest running drama not by coincidence, but by design.

The "new process" was a sop for the NFLPA to get the CBA signed. As with many things NFL, it's all for show. Why else would there still be the possibility that Goodell is still the final arbiter if this is truly a new process. It allows the "the NFL" to appeal to itself and decide the appeal. So the the first act of the show (why it took this judge weeks to come up with the 6 week suspension is a mystery) has concluded. The NFL, as before the new CBA, is now free as it ever was to do as it pleases with Watson. There really wasn't any new virtue in this. It's all about the prime directive: keeping the NFL on page 1 ("above the fold", as they used to say) in the off season. I think the NFL would be very confident going to court. Another precedent confirming decision would be most likely and would further solidify their control over the players and the NFLPA.

His legend here began not with your post, but as soon as he was signed. Prior to that, few if any had much good to say about the guy. After that, posters were suggesting the Bills could easily win half their games with him is Josh missed 8 or more games.