New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is expected to take the NFL to federal court if his four-game suspension, handed down by the league in the wake of the Deflategate scandal and the findings of the Wells Report, is not vacated altogether, according to a recent report.
Ryan Smith of ABC News reported on Wednesday that NFLPA sources had informed him that if Brady's appeal resulted in any suspension whatsoever, the future Hall of Famer and his representatives would take commissioner Roger Goodell and the league to federal court.
#DeflateGate latest: NFLPA sources tells us if Tom Brady’s appeal results in suspension for ANY games, they’ll challenge in federal court
— Ryan Smith (@ryansmithtv) July 15, 2015
Brady's decision to fight is likely fueled in large part by the recent reduction of Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy's suspension. Hardy, originally hit with a whopping 10 game ban, had his sentence recently commuted to just four games, with arbitrator Harold Henderson concluding that the original suspension was, "simply too much."
The response as it pertains to Brady, was swift.
#Patriots source: "If Tom [Brady] has the same suspension [length] as [Greg] Hardy, that's really [messed] up." #NFL #Cowboys
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) July 10, 2015
It makes ample sense that Brady would see Hardy's four-game suspension and then view his own four-game ban in a less-than-fair light.
Really, it doesn't follow for Hardy, who was accused of domestic violence, to share the same fate as Brady, who was accused of having some hand in the deflation of footballs below a level the league deems to be legal.
While some will point to this and conclude that Hardy's suspension should simply be longer, we're already past that point. Brady, who also has the option of filing an injunction which would tie up the legal process and force the league to allow him to take the field while the matter is resolved in the courts, has ample evidence on his side that his suspension should be reduced significantly and it seems now, assuming Smith's report is accurate, that Patriots fans should expect their Super Bowl-winning quarterback on the field for Week 1.
