This morning the U.S Circuit Court of Appeals announced that it had denied Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s appeal for a full court hearing. Back in April, a panel of three judges came to the conclusion that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was within his power to suspend the four-time Super Bowl Champion and three-time Super Bowl MVP. The suspension calls for Tom Brady to miss the first four regular season games for knowing that Patriots’ employees were deflating footballs prior to the AFC Championship game and he failed to cooperate with the investigation. With Brady out on suspension back up quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will take his place in games against the Arizona Cardinals, the Miami Dolphins, the Houston Texans, and the Buffalo Bills. Brady would come back in week five against the Cleveland Browns.
Now that the U.S. courts have denied Brady his second appeal, he is looking to go to the U.S Supreme Courts and try his chance at getting a hearing. Deflategate has turning into an issue not just over air pressure in footballs, but a multimillion dollar issue over the power that the NFL Commissioner actually has.
After the court’s decision this morning Tom Brady has a decision of his own to make here. Either he continues with this and sends his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or he sits on the sideline for four games and lets backup QB Garoppolo get his first chance on Gillette Field. The Patriots have had the highest at home winning percentage since 2001 at .842 and are hoping to continue this next season. With Brady still pursuing the suit this leaves the Patriots training camp, preseason, and first four games in uncertainty. Bill Belichick keeps telling reporters that training camp will happen like normal, with Brady and Garoppolo splitting the repetitions.
For now we will wait for Tom Brady to make his decision on sitting the sidelines or send an appeal to the Supreme Court.
