Walsh seeks protection

Levy said the NFL's offer to Walsh leaves his client unprotected legally against unfounded or unproven allegations and would force him to turn over to the league the very materials he would need to fight such charges.

The Boston Herald, citing an anonymous source, reported Feb. 2 the Patriots had taped the Rams' walkthrough prior to the Super Bowl. The allegation reignited the furor surrounding "Spygate," for which the Patriots were fined $250,000 and docked a first-round pick and coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 after the team was caught illegally taping the Jets' defensive signals during a game Sept. 9.

The Patriots and the NFL have adamantly denied the Super Bowl taping took place, but commissioner Roger Goodell has said he'll reopen the investigation if pertinent new evidence surfaces.

Goodell has said he has offered Walsh, who said he's bound by a confidentiality agreement he signed when the Patriots ceased employing him in 2003, a deal whereby "he has to tell the truth and he has to return anything he took improperly" in return for indemnity.

"No one wants to talk to Matt Walsh more than we do," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the Associated Press yesterday. "But his demand to be released from all responsibility even if his comments are not truthful is unprecedented and unreasonable. The NFL and the Patriots have assured Mr. Walsh's lawyer that there will be no adverse consequences for his client if Mr. Walsh truthfully shares what he knows. Why does he need any more protection than that?"

Levy said his proposal to the NFL also requires his client to tell the truth, although he didn't lay out what the consequences of being untruthful would be.

"Under the agreement we've proposed, Mr. Walsh is only protected if in good faith he tells the truth," said Levy. "That's what he will do."

Levy said the NFL has a former FBI agent looking into Walsh's background, which doesn't leave his client "confident that the NFL simply wants to encourage him to come forward with whatever information he has."

Aiello told ESPN.com and The New York Times that the league was just looking into public records and trying to verify Walsh's employment history.