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Goodell, ex-Pats’ aide to huddle on Spygate

07:25 AM EDT on Thursday, April 24, 2008

BY BARRY WILNER
Associated Press

Matt Walsh must return any items that belong to the Patriots to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell by May 8.


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The Journal / Connie Grosch

NEW YORK — Matt Walsh will get his day with the commissioner. What he has to offer is anyone’s guess.

The former Patriots assistant will meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on May 13 about New England’s videotaping of opposing teams. It took a couple of months, but the league reached an agreement with Walsh yesterday.

“Commissioner Goodell will meet with Mr. Walsh … on May 13, the earliest date that Mr. Walsh, who lives in Hawaii, will be available on the East Coast,” the NFL statement said. “The agreement also requires Mr. Walsh to return any tapes and other items in his possession that belong to the Patriots. In return, the NFL and the Patriots have promised not to sue Mr. Walsh. They also will indemnify him for any expenses, including legal fees that he incurs in connection with the interview.”

During Super Bowl week, and nearly five months after the Patriots were sanctioned for illegal taping of the New York Jets in the season opener — a $500,000 fine for coach Bill Belichick, a $250,000 fine for the organization, and the loss of a first-round draft pick on Saturday — there were reports of possible other videotaping by the Patriots. Those reports centered on Walsh, who shot videos for the Patriots during his six-year stint with the organization.

Since the Super Bowl, Goodell’s staff has sought a meeting with Walsh.

“Today, Mr. Walsh and the National Football League reached an agreement under which the NFL will provide legal indemnification and a release of claims against Mr. Walsh relating to his employment by the Patriots and the Patriots’ videotaping operations,” said Walsh’s lawyer, Michael Levy of McKee Nelson LLP. “I am pleased that we now have an agreement that provides Mr. Walsh with appropriate legal protections.”

So what might Walsh have and what does he know? The Patriots say he has nothing.

“The New England Patriots are pleased to learn that Matt Walsh is finally willing to come forward to meet with the NFL,” the team said in a statement.

The allegation was that New England videotaped the St. Louis Rams’ walk through on the day before the 2002 Super Bowl.

Although Belichick admitted to Goodell during the Spygate investigation that his team often taped opposing coaches’ signals during games, he adamantly has denied anything about that Super Bowl.

“I’ve never seen a tape of another team’s practice. Ever!” Belichick said at last month’s NFL owners meetings. “Certainly not that one.”

“I think they’ve addressed everything they possibly can address.”

In their statement yesterday, the Patriots reiterated that stand:

“At all times, we cooperated fully with the league’s investigation and stand by our initial public statement from Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008: The suggestion that the New England Patriots recorded the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 is absolutely false.”

The agreement with Walsh, a golf pro in Hawaii, will allow him to “share with the NFL information about activities occurring during his employment with the club from 1997-2003,” the league said in a statement.

Walsh will also be required to return any tapes and other items in his possession that belong to the Patriots by May 8.

He will be barred from using any material related to Spygate for commercial purposes.

He will also not be allowed to speak with any third parties before meeting with Goodell.

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