Earlier this week, commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike that the NFL never asked the Patriots to suspend equipment assistant John Jastremski and officials locker room attendant Jim McNally for their roles in Deflategate.
“Absolutely not. That was a decision by the Patriots,” Goodell said.
But ESPN's Adam Schefter, who reported in May that the Patriots suspended the two men at the league's request, reiterated that stance on Thursday.
“It’s odd to me why if the Patriots suspended them, why they would have to go to the league to ask permission to reinstate them,” Schefter told Mike & Mike, via WEEI.com. “Again, I’m not here to debate anybody, I reported over two months ago, in the beginning of May, that the league asked the Patriots to suspend those two employees, which is in fact what happened. Anybody can say what they want, I’m not trying to make anyone look bad, it’s not the goal, I’m just telling exactly what I was told from people that I trust from people that understand and know the situation. Why else would the Patriots have suspended them?
“Just think about it logically," Schefter continued. "It makes very little sense for the Patriots to go ahead when they believe in their innocence when they accepted the findings to go ahead and do this. And they did it. That’s it. That’s the deal.”
This week, the Patriots asked the NFL to reinstate McNally and Jastremski, which isn't typically how team-mandated discipline is handled. That said, the league released a statement on May 11 outlining what would have to happen to for the two men to return to work.
"Patriots owner Robert Kraft advised Commissioner Roger Goodell last week that Patriots employees John Jastremski and James McNally have been indefinitely suspended without pay by the club, effective on May 6th. Neither of these individuals may be reinstated without the prior approval of NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent,” the statement read.
Wherever the truth lies, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, the man at the center of the Deflategate controversy, wants McNally and Jastremski back in the fold.
"Of course none of those things are my decision, but I feel terrible. Like I said the other day, for what they've been put through, what their families have been put through — I know what my family has been put through and what's happened so I just feel terrible they are not with our team," Brady said earlier this week.
