With an ever-growing list of owners joining the Colin Kaepernick deposition dance card, it was inevitable that the leader of the band would have to go under oath and answer questions from Kaepernick’s counsel, Mark Geragos.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, Commissioner Roger Goodell has joined the list of people to be deposed by Kaepernick’s lawyer in the pending collusion case. Goodell’s text messages and emails (subject to a list of approved search terms) also have been targeted.
Kaepernick’s lawyer also seeks to question NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent and NFL senior V.P of player engagement Arthur McAfee.
As one source explained it, the standard approach for arbitrations under the CBA is to allow five depositions per side. It’s unknown in this case whether the arbitrator has approved the request to depose Goodell and various owners, including Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, Bob McNair, Paul Allen, and Jed York. It’s safe to assume that the NFL will oppose the effort to question Goodell, since the NFL has typically done that in past cases involving any attempt to force Goodell, a non-lawyer, to joust a skilled and experienced attorney on a legal high wire, without a net.
Maybe it’s the effort to question Goodell under oath that will result in Goodell doing what his predecessor would have done by now -- making an off-the-record deal with a team to sign Kaepernick and ensuring that this whole thing go away. If Geragos gets a chance to grill Goodell and various other owners, the worst-case scenario for Goodell possibly will entail something worse than simply losing the case.