Roger Goodell: No settlement talks with Tom Brady

BATAVIA, N.Y. -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday that the league is not engaged in settlement talks with Tom Brady and defended Goodell's rights as commissioner to impose discipline and hear appeals.

"As I said, we've had all those discussions," Goodell said. "We've had settlement discussions over the past year. At this stage, no, right now we're moving forward. The courts will make their decisions and we'll move forward on that basis."

Brady is awaitinga decision by the 2nd U.S. District Court of Appeals on whether it will grant the New England Patriots quarterback a second hearing on his Deflategate four-game suspension.

"When it comes to the integrity of the game, that's the responsibility of the commissioner, and we're not gonna hand that integrity of the game off to somebody that doesn't have any involvement in the game," said Goodell, who was participating in former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly's 30th annual charity golf tournament Monday.

"That's for somebody that understands what is important in making sure we maintain that. Maintain the competitiveness of our game. And the reality is, our rules apply to everybody. They apply to every player, every team, and that's something we're going to work hard to maintain and not hand that off to somebody else."

Asked if the ongoing situation was an embarrassment for the league and for Brady, Goodell responded, "Listen, again, I think there's a system in place. We moved quite quickly last spring. The judge made a determination last August that the appeals court has reversed and said was an incorrect judgment. They have the rights to appeal. The legal system is deliberate, if you want to put it that way. And it's unfortunate, because it does impact on our game. We don't encourage that, obviously, and we'd like to get this resolved and move forward."

Deflategate, which began when the NFL investigated the Patriots for allegedly using underinflated footballs during the first half of the 2015 AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts, reached the 500-day mark last week, but Goodell didn't express concern Monday about the length of the legal process surrounding the discipline the league imposed on Brady.

"The first thing I'd say is that the CBA is very clear," he said. "The court of appeals made that clear. That's exactly what was negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement. That's the authority the commissioner has been granted. I don't think there's been an issue, to your point, of length. It's been more litigated. More independent judges have an opportunity to look at it. So it's a reality of the world we live in right now. It's unfortunate. If we can find a better system, we said that since we structured our collective bargaining agreement. If there's a better system, let's do it."