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Roger Goodell confirmed why Tom Brady was right to not share texts

Roger Goodell didn't answer many questions directly on Wednesday, but in a roundabout way he answered a big one from deflate-gate.

Why wouldn't Tom Brady give up his text messages and emails in Ted Wells' investigation? If you scoffed at the answer that it would set a bad precedent for other players, I want you to read Goodell's answer concerning the league's cooperation with the Mueller Report (investigation of the Ray Rice domestic violence case) and consider again where Brady was coming from (bold emphasis on Goodell's answer added):

Question: When there was an investigation on the league, there was an open book, “Here’s our stuff, you can look at it.” Now when Brady was asked to provide his stuff, maybe he resisted in giving some of his private communications. Did that have anything to do with the penalties that were imposed and maybe the sanctions that were done?

Goodell: "Well, I think we were very clear in the letter, in Troy’s letter, that noncooperation was a factor in the discipline, absolutely. You point out in Director Muller’s investigation there was full cooperation, he had access to every text, every email, every bit of communication that I had and that everyone in our office had and there were no restrictions on that whatsoever. So, we do expect to have that in investigations. That’s an important part of it and when there isn’t full cooperation, that is certainly part of the discipline."

The NFL Players Association should be up in arms about that answer.

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Goodell said that he expects players like Brady, when investigated, to give access to "every text, every email, every bit of communication." Expects. And if you don't? "That's certainly part of the discipline."

In other words, this business believes it has the right to punish an employee (in Brady's case costing him about $2 million in salary over the four-game suspension) if he or she does not turn over texts, emails and other communication from personal phones or other devices. Even if you've answered every question an investigator has for you, as Brady did. Why does the NFL think this is OK?

All NFL players should raise an eyebrow about this. If the NFL feels that not turning over personal texts and emails (there has been no indication in any of the reports that multi-millionaire Brady was texting from a Patriots-issued phone) is a punishable offense, where's the line? Does someone trying to get reinstated off a failed drug test need to turn over all texts so the league can see if they've discussed drugs with anyone else? Will an arrest prompt the league to search someone's home for evidence? All the time knowing that a refusal will "certainly be part of the discipline"?

There's nothing I can find in the collective bargaining agreement saying a player has to turn over private correspondence to the NFL. In Mueller's investigation, league employees turned over league-issued devices with no mention of personal devices in the report, which makes Goodell's comparison disingenuous. Also, Wells had all of Brady's texts to assistant equipment manager John Jastremski, from Jastremski's phone, and concluded he sent none to officials locker room attendant Jim McNally, so what texts do they think Brady has that will crack the case wide open? Pro Football Talk said the union concedes that players have to "reasonably cooperate" with the league in investigations, but that doesn't mean "jump through every single hoop" either.

So now we see Brady's motivation. One part of his refusal is the NFLPA precedent, which his agent Don Yee has said before. The other is that the NFL has lost its freaking mind as it tries to play FBI. The league is drunk off its own imagined power over the players, and feels bolder with every collective-bargaining win over the union. Even as Goodell spoke, it's pretty obvious that in Brady's appeal that either he gives in to the NFL's wishes to see his texts or else. If you're an NFL player, especially a prominent one like Brady, this has to end somewhere.

Not to mention that Brady's decision to not share texts was vindicated when Wells made the very unprofessional decision to use Jastremski's texts about having Brady sign a football when he passed 50,000 career yards in the report. Those texts had absolutely, positively no bearing on the report ... other than to embarrass Jastremski. Ask Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin too if they'd share all their texts again, after Wells' report on the Miami Dolphins bullying scandal revealed some that were quite embarrassing and had little to do with the case. Seeing all of that, I doubt Brady has any regret about not sharing his text messages or emails with Wells.

Goodell told us what we needed to know on Wednesday. The NFL has an explicit expectation that its employees turn over personal communications when asked, or the petty league has no problem suspending them and costing them millions of dollars and their reputation. And now we can see why Brady was correct to refuse.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!