Jay Feely: I was in similar situation as Tom Brady and didn't get punished
Jay Feely says that in 2009, he was in a similar Tom Brady's situation in 2009 and didn't get punished.
By
John Breech
•
2 min read
Back in July, when it became clear that the NFL and NFLPA would be going to court over the appeal of Tom Brady's suspension, the NFLPA made an interesting point it its initial court filing.
According to the NFLPA, no player had ever been punished for violating the NFL's Competitive Integrity Policy, the policy that Brady's being punished for.
One of the specific cases that the NFLPA cited in its late July court filing was an incident from 2009 that involved a Jets equipment employee, who "attempted to use unapproved equipment to prep the K balls prior to" a game against the Patriots.
The K balls are the footballs used exclusively by specialists during an NFL game. Basically, the NFL believed that a Jets staff member was doctoring footballs to presumably give the team's kicker a competitive advantage.
However, the Jets kicker at the time, Jay Feely, was never investigated for the incident.
As the NFLPA noted in its July 30 court filing, "the player who could have benefited from the alleged 'attempt to gain a competitive advantage' was not investigated, let alone disciplined."
Feely sees a similarity between his case and Brady's and he just happened to be at Brady's settlement conference on Monday to explain that to Judge Richard Berman.
Although the free-agent kicker was in the courtroom because he's a member of the NFL Players Association's executive committee, Feely did get some private time in front of Judge Richard Berman and he used that private time to explain his thoughts on the 2009 Jets situation and how it compares to the current one involving Brady.
In an interview on Tuesday with The Doug Gottlieb Show, Feely explained what exactly happened when he met with Judge Berman behind closed doors.
"One of the situations I talked about was when I was with the Jets because they had an equipment guy who got in trouble, ironically, playing the Patriots," Feely said. "It was referenced in the NFLPA brief that we sent into the judge."
Feely, who will be working for CBS Sports covering college football this fall, explained that the NFL treated both cases differently even though he felt they were very much the same.
"We talked about the similarities in that case and the differences in the way the NFL responded. I didn't get into trouble, I had no culpability," Feely said. "The reaction by the NFL was much different [from Deflategate] even though the circumstances were very similar."
In Feely's case, the equipment manager got suspended and the NFL never investigated Feely for anywrongdoing. Feely believes that Brady's situation is the same: If anyone's guilty, it's the equipment guys, meaning Brady's innocent.
The free-agent kicker thinks that the NFL went hard on Brady because of the Patriots sordid past.
"Because of the allegations both with Spygate and the allegations of taping the Super Bowl walk-through and all the history of things that they've had, I think [the NFL] reacted to something," Feely said.
Even if Brady did do something though, Feely believes that a four-game punishment is excessive.
"If anything happened -- I don't believe it did and Tom Brady maintains his innocence that nothing happened -- but if something had happened, it would've been a speeding ticket and [the NFL] reacted like it was a homicide," Feely said. "That's the metaphor I can give you."
