Brandon Marshall said a common refrain in NFL locker rooms is that race played a part in Tom Brady avoiding a suspension for Deflategate.
Speaking on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” on Tuesday, the Jets wide receiver touched on several hot-button topics. Chief among them was Deflategate, which reached its long-awaited conclusion last week when a federal judge threw out the NFL's four-game suspension of Brady, who appealed the initial punishment.
MORE: Deflategate punishment a 'makeup call' for Spygate debacle, report says | Brady, Patriots atop Week 1 NFL Power Rankings
Marshall, who appears regularly on the weekly show, said the Patriots quarterback got off easy in part because of one factor:
"The race card," he said in the interview. "There are a lot of players out there that believe that white players — specifically, at the quarterback position — are treated differently.
“This is not just from our locker room, this is from locker rooms across the states. This is how guys are feeling. This is not just my opinion. These are conversations I’m having with guys. It’s just not African-American players. I’ve had this conversation with Caucasian players as well.”
Marshall has never been one to mince words, so it shouldn't come as too big of a surprise that he had something controversial to add. It should be noted that it was the decision of Judge Richard Berman, not commissioner Roger Goodell, to nullify the suspension.
Marshall said that opinions vary from player to player regarding how the NFL handled Deflategate. Some, he said, feel black players are held to a different standard and would have been treated differently if in Brady's situation.
“I think that there are three different types of players viewing this thing,” Marshall said. “No. 1 is the fighter. I think there are guys that are in the fight with Tom (Brady). When one player’s rights are upheld, all players’ rights are upheld. It’s not about what he did if he’s right or wrong, it’s more about the process. Is it fair?
"The second is the coward — I call them cowards. That’s the guys who are afraid to face Tom Brady. They want him suspended. I don’t believe in that. And the last is the race card.”