Bell: Deflategate just one more case study to test public trust in NFL

Public trust is a double-edged sword.

That’s the definitive takeaway from this pitiful saga known as Deflategate.

Roger Goodell cited public trust in upholding the appeal of Tom Brady’s four-game suspension.

Robert Kraft, the widely respected New England Patriots owner, alluded to such trust in blasting the NFL and its process for discipline — just as the NFL players union has on many occasions.

What community spirit. Everyone claims a share of public trust.

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Regardless of what side you’re on, or whom you believe to what extent, or what impact this has on where Tom Brady will rank on your fantasy draft board (in reality, the dude has been sizzling on the practice field), the most encouraging development over the weekend came from Judge Richard M. Berman. On Friday, he ordered the NFL and NFL Players Association to engage in settlement talks.

In issuing his order, Berman underscored the public’s interest — and right to know.

With Deflategate and its many twists dominating the NFL’s offseason news cycle, it is more than fair that the judge assigned to the case is of the belief the public is invested to the point that it has a right to get behind the scenes deeper than in normal circumstances, if need be.

To that end, Berman provided a warning that should inspire a settlement by maintaining he would have difficulty approving any sealed documents — despite the agreement between the league and players union to do just that.

Are you ready for some ... discovery!

Didn’t think so, at least not if you’re the NFL. Maybe that’s the threat to carry the day.

Berman has reduced the gray area for getting a resolution, and put a clock on it, too. There are no free passes for Goodell and Brady to not attend settlement conferences on Aug. 12 and 19. And a magistrate, James C. Francis IV, is assigned to mediate.

Football fans should see it this way: Deflategate is officially in overtime.

It’s about time. Every NFL team is in training camp, and the book isn’t even closed on last season — which we all know must rub Bill Belichick the wrong way.

No doubt, the pressure and timetable that Berman is applying is essential for a matter that has dragged on for more than 28 weeks since the NFL discovered (alleged) funny business with the footballs the (denying) Patriots used in their AFC title game victory against the Indianapolis Colts.

There’s been so much ebb and flow. Last week, the NFL won a legal victory when a Minnesota judge sent the federal case that the NFLPA filed to New York, where the NFL filed first. With Berman’s actions, though, the NFLPA has the timetable for the resolution of the case before the start of the season.

On one level, you can’t blame Goodell for taking a hard line while protecting the integrity of the game. Baseball has corked bats and spit balls; hockey has ultra-curved sticks. Football used to have stickum and silicone-sprayed jerseys.

Still, for this to rise to the level of being a federal case is beyond me.

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There’s so much gray area, with Brady’s camp hammering away on the process and poking holes in the investigation that led to the Wells Report. After the Colts expressed concerns about the Patriots’ footballs before the game, how could locker room attendant Jim McNally — the so-called "Deflator" — take a bag of footballs out of the officials’ locker room and into a bathroom?

The NFL levied its record-setting penalties — with a $1 million fine and loss of first- and fourth-round draft picks on top of docking Brady — without direct evidence that nailed Brady.

The Patriots, meanwhile, are furious that the league didn’t quickly correct the public record immediately after ESPN reported that 11 of 12 of the footballs used in the AFC title game were said to be at least two pounds under the legal standard of 12.5 PSI. The investigation led by Ted Wells concluded that the footballs were slightly under the limit — nowhere near two pounds.

From the Patriots’ perspective, the brand for the franchise that was once caught breaking NFL policy in Spygate was irreparably harmed because the NFL knew the original report was false, and it dictated the narrative that has flowed since then.

Over the weekend, the Patriots released a string of emails between the team and league officials from February that underscored the team’s efforts to have the NFL refute the report.

Still, that says nothing about Brady, who not only was slammed by the NFL for lack of cooperation in the investigation, but also destroyed the cell phone and evidence from the period leading to Deflategate. Brady’s position included personal privacy and the sense that he didn’t want to set a precedent for union-represented players to turn over cellphones.

Even so, what the Wells Report revealed of Brady’s inordinate number of text, phone and other exchanges with since-ousted assistant equipment manager John Jastremski after the investigation unfolded flies in the face of the quarterback’s assertions during a late-January press conference in which he played dumb about football preparation.

So Brady – fighting to clear his name with the zeal we’ve seen on competitive Sundays — might have changed the narrative from the start. He’s in a gray area, too. The Wells Report didn’t conclude that Brady instructed footballs to be under-inflated below the league limit, only that it was "more probable than not" that he was generally aware of misdeeds.

Maybe, maybe not. But clearly the entire episode has provided one more case study to test the public’s trust in the NFL.

Follow columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.