Being able to end this issue before the offseason really begins would be a win for the NFLPA, Tom Brady, and the New England Patriots. This proposed timeline-which may move faster than the schedules of the judges would permit-should extend past February 7, 2016, the date of Super Bowl 50.
Advertisement
While Carton followed up by reporting that the league is attempting to get the appeal expedited, his co-host, Boomer Esiason, responded fairly strongly himself. If the court agrees, a briefing for the appeal would be completed by late December, with arguments coming early next year. We just can’t see Brady serving a suspension this season. For those keeping score at home, those first three titles occurred when the Patriots were filming other teams’ practices, and the fourth occurred under the Deflategate scandal, for which Brady was eventually exonerated, but not for the reasons Brady fans would like to believe. The decision came after multiple attempts at settlement between Brady, his council, the NFL Players Association and the NFL.
After Brady himself appealed the suspension through the NFL’s own internal appeals process, league Commissioner Roger Goodell escalated the charge against Brady, saying that he willfully participated in a “scheme” to deflate footballs. This, in turn, would lead the National Football League to file another appeal to the Second Circuit. He slapped the Patriots with a $1 million fine and forfeiture of two future draft picks, citing the Wells Report, and Brady’s lack of cooperation in the investigation.
“The NFL’s assessment of the case remains skewed to the point of delusional”, Florio wrote on Friday.
Advertisement
Michael McCann, a Sports Illustrated legal analyst and founding director of the Sports & Entertainment Law Institute at UNH, talks to students and faculty at Middlesex Community College on Monday. This fall he is teaching an undergraduate course at UNH titled “Deflategate“.
