Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said recently that he thought there was “probably too much pressure to come back to a deal” during the last CBA negotiations “when we had all the power on our side” to make “legitimate changes” to the amount of power NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wields.
Those powers predated that round of CBA negotiations, but they are sure to be a talking point when it comes time to negotiate a new agreement when the current one winds down in 2020. One of the players who has become a focal point in discussions about the way Goodell metes out discipline is Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who is starting his four-game suspension this week.
Brady spoke to Jim Gray on Westwood One radio Thursday night and said that the coming negotiations offer a chance for players to “come together to really stand up for the things that we believe in and continue to fight” that others have led in the past.
“I think the system can always be improved,” Brady said, via WEEI.com. “Not just for my situation because my situation is obviously in the past, but for everyone’s situation in the future. I think we as players need to stand together so collectively we can be as strong as possible and the NFL can continue to provide and be as great of a game as it is.”
As for his own fight with the league, Brady said “it doesn’t serve my interest to keep looking back” and that he’s trying to fully focus on his job with the Patriots so he can be “the best quarterback I can be” when the time comes to return to the field in October.