NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith says Commissioner Roger Goodell has eroded trust not just with the players, but with owners as well.
As he celebrated the decisive victory given to Tom Brady and the NFLPA in today’s Deflategate ruling, Smith told CSN Mid Atlantic that Patriots owner Robert Kraft has learned what the players already knew: Goodell is not to be trusted.
“We never make the mistake of trusting the league,” Smith said. “I don’t have the luxury of trusting the league. I think looking back on the statements of Mr. Kraft and the position of the Patriots, do I think they wish they had a do over? I think they probably wish they had a do over.”
Asked about the players’ trust in the league and Goodell, Smith answered, “It’s gone.”
The legacy of Deflategate may be that it tarnishes Goodell’s reputation far more than it tarnishes Brady’s.