New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has decided Friday enough is enough and that he will drop his appeal and serve his four-game suspension for the Deflategate scandal. Brady said in a Facebook post Friday that “I have made the difficult decision to no longer proceed with the legal process.”
Immediately after making his decision known publicly, the NFLPA announced Friday via a statement that they will no longer pursue a stay of his suspension.
After careful consideration and discussion with Tom Brady, the NFLPA will not be seeking a stay of the four game suspension with the 2nd Circuit. This decision was made in the interest of certainty and planning for Tom prior to the New England Patriots season. We will continue to review all of our options and we reserve our rights to petition for cert to the Supreme Court.
with Brady now almost assured to miss the patriots first four games of the 2016 season, longtime backup Jimmy Garoppolo is expected to start in his place in the contests against the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. When Brady is reinstated, however, his first three games will be against AFC North teams with the Pittsburgh Steelers being the last of them. Ahead of playing the Steelers, Brady and the Patriots will play the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals.
Entering Friday, the Patriots were still listed as the favorites to win Super Bowl 51 and it will be interesting to see now if their odds get a little longer now being as Brady won’t play the first quarter of the season.
Even though Garoppolo is entering his third year with the Patriots, the Eastern Illinois product has yet to start an NFL game during his career and has attempted just 31 passes in his limited playing time.
Despite his suspension, Brady will be allowed to play during the preseason. With that said, one would think the Patriots will want to get Garoppolo quite a bit of playing time with the starting offense during those four games.
