Tom Brady in June 2016. (Getty)
Tom Brady will take his four-game suspension for his role in the deflategate scandal, now that the four-time Super Bowl winning quarterback has announced that he will not appeal the ruling this week by the second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 13.
Brady posted the following statement on his Facebook page:
I’m very grateful for the overwhelming support I’ve received from Mr. Kraft, the Kraft family, coach Belichick, my coaches and teammates, the NFLPA, my agents, my loving family and most of all, our fans. It has been a challenging 18 months and I have made the difficult decision to no longer proceed with the legal process. I’m going to work hard to be the best player I can be for the New England Patriots and I look forward to having the opportunity to return to the field this fall.
On July 13, the court issued a one-sentence decision against Brady and the NFL Players Association’s appeal against their April decision to uphold NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s four-game suspension. The judges ruled 2-1 against Brady.
In response to the ruling, the NFLPA said:
We are disappointed with the decision denying a rehearing, as there were clear violations of our collective bargaining agreement by the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell. Despite today’s result, the track record of this League office when it comes to matters of player discipline is bad for our business and bad for our game. We have a broken system that must be fixed. We will review all of our options carefully on behalf of Tom Brady and all NFL players.
The deflategate scandal dates back to January 2015, when it was alleged that the Patriots used underinflated footballs during the first half of the AFC Championship game in New England against the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots franchise was also fined $1 million and lost two draft picks.
With Brady suspended, the Patriots will end up starting Jimmy Garoppolo in games against the Cardinals, Dolphins, Texans and Bills.
Comments
Tom Brady Won’t Appeal After Losing Latest Deflategate Appeal