Jets linebacker Jason Babin, an outspoken conservative, blames Tom Brady’s harsh suspension on the left-leaning NFL Players Association.
The NFL suspended Brady, the New England Patriots star quarterback, for four games for his alleged involvement in a football deflation scandal commonly referred to as “Deflategate.” Babin feels the current collective bargaining agreement, agreed to in 2011, gives NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell too much power on the player discipline front.
“[Brady’s] punishment seems extremely harsh, comparative to other punishments for other things—off the field and performance-enhancement penalties,” Babin told ESPN.com. “A lot of guys aren’t happy that we gave away the right to a fair and balanced procedure when it comes to discipline, giving carte blanche to the commissioner.”
Babin, who registered two hits on the Super Bowl MVP in games between the AFC East rivals last year, likely would see his team benefit in the standings from a Brady-less Patriots for the first four games of the season. But he believes the NFL lacks a “smoking gun” against the quarterback that his team faces in Week 6 and Week 16.
Babin attended the CBA negotiations and says Goodell’s disciplinary power “never got brought up” in the meetings.
The Michigan-native also thinks that union chief DeMaurice Smith rushed into a bad deal with the pressure of training camps approaching in the summer of 2011.
“We left a meeting, got home from the airport and, all of a sudden, you see [former Indianapolis Colts center] Jeff Saturday kissing [New England Patriots owner] Robert Kraft. We were like, ‘What happened?’ We thought we were at an impasse. A lot of people were a little confused.”
Babin, an alternate player rep for the Titans during the 2011 labor battle, has never been afraid to speak his mind. He loves to hunt, signed up his entire family for lifetime memberships to the NRA, and posted a picture of the membership kits on Twitter. On January 16, 2013, he tweeted a salvo at President Barack Obama about the nation’s staggering debt: “How long would a small business stay a float acting like this? Set a good example #BO.”
Babin’s outspoken conservative nature has irked many on the left.
On February 8, 2013, the far-left website The Daily Kos trashed him in a blog entitled, “NFL Pass Rusher Jason Babin: America’s Latest Insignificant Idiot.”
Throughout the blog, the writer, Floyd Blue, referred to Babin as a “bagger.” We’d love to see the blogger say that to the face of the 6-3, 263-pound powerhouse, who has 64.5 career sacks.
Babin certainly has something to say to Smith’s face. Next time around negotiate a better CBA, with less dictatorial powers for the commissioner.
“When we re-visit the CBA again,” Babin suggests, “hopefully re-think that option or at least fight for [Goodell possessing less disciplinary power].”
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