Will Brady chose to take a Four Game FINE to get off on the Four Game Suspension?

borg · Jun 29, 2015

In this scenario, not only will the NFL collect fines from Brady....but gain revenue from additional viewership due to the Brady Spectacle the NFL will promote to death.
NOT A CHANCE

The Gr8est · Jun 29, 2015

What the hell has the NFL* come to?

We are seriously discussing what penalties we should accept for an offense that we did not commit and science says did not occur.

varjao · Jun 29, 2015

Patsfanin Philly said:
Even if the NFL agreed to exonerate Brady, I wouldn't trust them not to give background comments to reporters that "it wasn't really an exoneration" and "we wanted to get this behind us".......besmirching Brady.
F them all...........
This whole thing is a sham, a scam and a sting devised at NFL headquarters.................

Yes but if Brady gets exonerated once the season starts no one will remember this. The problem losing games is that the numbers he will put in, in the end they will project 16 games, will remember he didn't play against x, y, z, etc...there will always be a shadow.

Brady really needs to seek full exoneration.

I was more pissed regarding the picks than the suspension to be honest since a calf injury or pulling a hammy could have the same effect, but now, I'm kind of accepting the picks with the mindset that BB will figure this out.

Now regarding the risks of going to a court and losing the battle, if this is late in the season, what are the chances that the judge would postpone the penalty for the 2016 season? Kind of like happened with Dennard serving his time in the offseason?

Patstopia · Jun 29, 2015

Any lesser punishment must come with the understanding that nothing happened to the balls. It was just science. To place guilt on another person to justify the NFL idiocy is just as bad as what Kraft did.
So I am good with a 25k fine for Pats and the Colts for low ball pressure! Anything else Brady should fight!

Palm Beach Pats Fan · Jun 29, 2015

PatsFanSince74 said:
Not if the NFL insists that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" and makes any reduction in penalty contingent on Brady's not litigating further.

If the NFL is requesting from Brady a promise of no legal action in exchange for a greatly-reduced penalty, then this appeal WILL be overturned.

Why?

Because that would mean that it was simply not an appeal. In an appeal you review all of the evidence again to determine if the initial decision was correct or not. An appeal is not an opportunity to negotiate a settlement.

I know that it's been speculated/reported that the NFL has offered this. If they have, I think that they have shot themselves in the foot while painted into a key-less corner.

primetime · Jun 29, 2015

PatsFanSince74 said:
If Brady is exonerated, it doesn't matter what the NFLPA thinks about it, as its interests are no longer completely aligned with Brady's.

If it's a big fine, sure. If it's essentially wiping Brady's paycheck for those 4 games clean, I don't see how working for free is in his interests either.

PatsFanSince74 · Jun 29, 2015

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:
If the NFL is requesting from Brady a promise of no legal action in exchange for a greatly-reduced penalty, then this appeal WILL be overturned.

Why?

Because that would mean that it was simply not an appeal. In an appeal you review all of the evidence again to determine if the initial decision was correct or not. An appeal is not an opportunity to negotiate a settlement.

I know that it's been speculated/reported that the NFL has offered this. If they have, I think that they have shot themselves in the foot while painted into a key-less corner.

I'm not a lawyer.

Palm Beach Pats Fan · Jun 29, 2015

PatsFanSince74 said:
I'm not a lawyer.

Me neither, but common sense tells me that Goodell offering a "deal" with a quid pro quo makes the entire proceeding not a legitimate appeal.

I'd like to hear the opinion of a lawyer though.

PatsFanSince74 · Jun 29, 2015

primetime said:
If it's a big fine, sure. If it's essentially wiping Brady's paycheck for those 4 games clean, I don't see how working for free is in his interests either.

I don't even know how that got into the discussion. That would be a multi million dollar "fine" and is a non-starter I imagine from Brady's perspective.

"Exoneration" means that the NFL states in clear an unequivocal terms that Brady had nothing to do with activities against the rules related to the "deflation" of the balls and that there are no penalties to him for that.

"Fine for not co-operating" means that, once he has been exonerated, he is willing to enter into some compromise that enables the NFL to save face by agreeing to be fined for not handing over his cell phone records in their entirety. The precedent for this is a $50,000 fine to Favre for something similar, so the NFL has a problem. The question is how big a penalty would Brady be willing to accept for this less significant "infraction" in order to avoid going to court and make this all go away. Another poster mentioned that the maximum fine for a player in cash is $250,000. Others have suggested that he might accept a one game suspension. I doubt he'd be willing to take more than that, though.

It's all a matter of the tipping point at which Yee and Brady perceive that the risk of going to court is exceeded by the cost of the fine for non-cooperation.

PatsFanSince74 · Jun 29, 2015

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:
Me neither, but common sense tells me that Goodell offering a "deal" with a quid pro quo makes the entire proceeding not a legitimate appeal.

I'd like to hear the opinion of a lawyer though.

As I said, I'd bow to a lawyer who is engaged in litigation on this one, but I think that people make deals like that every day in courtrooms all over the US.

QuantumMechanic · Jun 29, 2015

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:
If the NFL is requesting from Brady a promise of no legal action in exchange for a greatly-reduced penalty, then this appeal WILL be overturned.

And if Brady decides to take the deal then precisely who will be in a position to have it overturned?

Froob · Jun 29, 2015

PatsFanSince74 said:
I'm not a lawyer.

Not the Mona Lisa Vito of the law?

Palm Beach Pats Fan · Jun 29, 2015

QuantumMechanic said:
And if Brady decides to take the deal then precisely who will be in a position to have it overturned?

Nobody, for there would be no court case.

But if he turns it down, goes to court, and shows that he was offered a deal to sway the outcome of the appeal, I'd think that would be an important argument that there was no appeal, just a sham aimed at a settlement.

Fencer · Jun 29, 2015

PatsFanSince74 said:
Yeah, that's pretty much what Gary Myers implied without directly stating it in his article on Wednesday and again in Sunday's paper.

You're hypothesizing that the NFL is planting stories, and you're observing that the stories make Goodell look like a corrupt moron.

Hmmm.

Fencer · Jun 29, 2015

sb1 said:
I think Brady will accept an offer of a small fine for the cooperation issue and 0 games. Anything less and this goes to court.

It still might for defamation.

Just wish the team penalties came back.

At some point, the league will make an offer with an overly harsh remaining penalty, and Brady's side will say "We agree, except that we want a carve-out from the litigation settlement -- we want to reserve the right to sue for defamation."

After that there's a chance that negotiations will actually succeed ...

primetime · Jun 30, 2015

PatsFanSince74 said:
I don't even know how that got into the discussion. That would be a multi million dollar "fine" and is a non-starter I imagine from Brady's perspective.

"Exoneration" means that the NFL states in clear an unequivocal terms that Brady had nothing to do with activities against the rules related to the "deflation" of the balls and that there are no penalties to him for that.

"Fine for not co-operating" means that, once he has been exonerated, he is willing to enter into some compromise that enables the NFL to save face by agreeing to be fined for not handing over his cell phone records in their entirety. The precedent for this is a $50,000 fine to Favre for something similar, so the NFL has a problem. The question is how big a penalty would Brady be willing to accept for this less significant "infraction" in order to avoid going to court and make this all go away. Another poster mentioned that the maximum fine for a player in cash is $250,000. Others have suggested that he might accept a one game suspension. I doubt he'd be willing to take more than that, though.

It's all a matter of the tipping point at which Yee and Brady perceive that the risk of going to court is exceeded by the cost of the fine for non-cooperation.

Right, but the question was if Brady would take a four game fine to replace a four game suspension. If we're assuming a reasonable fine, the answer to the titular question is so obvious that the thread should never have been made. It's a choice between not playing at all and not getting paid at all for four games or playing and getting paid slightly less. The only real "choice" would be if Brady received a multimillion dollar fine, in which case he would be playing mostly for free, so I took that as the basis for discussion since I figured a sounding wall of "Yeah, duh" wasn't interesting.

Ring 6 · Jun 30, 2015

QuantumMechanic said:
And if Brady decides to take the deal then precisely who will be in a position to have it overturned?

Brady isn't taking anything less than full exoneration. His reputation and legacy are more important than anything he would risk.

PatsFanSince74 · Jun 30, 2015

Fencer said:
You're hypothesizing that the NFL is planting stories, and you're observing that the stories make Goodell look like a corrupt moron.

Hmmm.

Heh heh. Yeah, I do think they're using Myers to float trial balloons. He's as well plugged-in to the goings on at 345 Park as any NY writer and he's kissed their butts enough that they'd trust him to do so.

And, if you read Myers' article the day after the Appeal, yeah, it's pretty clear that he thinks that the NFL has ended up in a position that could reasonably be interpreted as having been created by a "moron." He'd probably put it "incompetent moron," but "corrupt" works for me.

PatsFanSince74 · Jun 30, 2015

primetime said:
Right, but the question was if Brady would take a four game fine to replace a four game suspension. If we're assuming a reasonable fine, the answer to the titular question is so obvious that the thread should never have been made. It's a choice between not playing at all and not getting paid at all for four games or playing and getting paid slightly less. The only real "choice" would be if Brady received a multimillion dollar fine, in which case he would be playing mostly for free, so I took that as the basis for discussion since I figured a sounding wall of "Yeah, duh" wasn't interesting.

No argument. My point was more along the lines that a four game fine was DOA and the question was whether the two sides could agree on something else closer to the Favre number, all on the assumption that he was completely exonerated of complicity in "deflation," that crime that he could not have committed because it never occurred.

ctpatsfan77 · Jun 30, 2015

BlueThunder said:
I'm surprised that Goodell hasn't started an investigation into the Patriot's use of drones in OTA's............not sure why Dallas and the Giants get off scott free...oh wait...It has something to do with the Patriots.....

Is there such a thing as spying on yourself??????

The FAA is looking into all the teams doing it.

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