REPORT: Brady Will Be Suspended Next Week, Length of the Penalty the Biggest Question
 A suspension seems to be looming for Brady next week. (USA TODAY Images) |
It appears we're getting closer to finding out how far the NFL is willing to go over the Wells report, and for now it sounds like they're ready to hand out punishment as soon as next week.
According to the New York Daily News, the NFL is planning on doling out a suspension to quarterback Tom Brady in the coming week, with the only apparent question hinging on the length of games he'll be sidelined for.
Leaking the information before the weekend is an interesting move by the league office, which one would believe is being done to gauge the reaction as the speculation begins over the punishment he'll receive. There have already been several scenarios floated, including a Dolphins beat writer in Miami speculating he could miss all of 2015, while others, including Mike Giardi of CSNNE, think he could miss as many as 6-8 games. Others seem to feel 2-4 is more realistic.
The fact there will be one at all is mind-boggling considering the league looks ready to damage a legacy of a player over what's essentially a "maybe". The Wells report uses the term "more probable than not", which the NFL is saying is the equivalent of guilty, and that's what they're going with. The inexplicable part is the evidence they're basing it on comes thanks to the texts between two nitwits, one of which complained about Brady constantly being on him to alert the refs to make sure the footballs weren't over inflated during the season, and his 100 second bathroom break on the way to the field with the bag of footballs in tow. That's the damning evidence that they're using to suspend one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game.
One could challenge Wells to prove "it's more probable than not" that Jim McNally, the Patriots employee whose failure to not use the facilities earlier might see Brady suffer a suspension over it, actually washed his hands. The report can't prove McNally's hygiene any more than it can prove definitively that anything was done to that bag of footballs.
Yet the NFL appears ready to move forward and suspend Brady. Now the next question will be how far they can go in their punishment.
More than one game is unacceptable, simply because of the fact that Ray Rice got just two for knocking out his girlfriend in an elevator. Granted, Roger Goodell didn't know the extent of how bad that incident was when it initially happened prior to the release of the video, but that doesn't change the fact that his punishment essentially set a precedent. Does Brady's supposed "being generally aware" of the loss of 1 psi in a football meet the equivalent of assaulting a woman? Because if he's suspended for the same length as Rice, or even longer, that's essentially what the league would be saying.
Brady's agent, Don Yee, and the veteran's father have already both come out swinging in the wake of the report, with Yee already making it clear that he and his client aren't going to take this one lying down. Brady was very calculated Thursday night during his appearance at Salem State and said that he'll respond, "hopefully soon" because he wants to be "comfortable" in what he says. Meanwhile, Yee sounds livid over the report and it's going to be interesting to see how far he's willing to go in this battle when it finally unfolds.
It seems we'll find out this week what he'll be up against. Yee seems poised to try and make sure the NFL doesn't damage his client's legacy over a report full of assumptions and without any concrete facts. As it stands right now the league's case against Brady has more craters than the moon, and how it plays out will likely be watched by the NFLPA since they could see one of their own get punished without any real proof of any wrongdoing.
If you thought Spygate was bad, this will be far worse since there's far more at stake. Pray that Yee's legal prowess and any other lawyers brought in are able to slay the NFL giant that seems ready to slaughter one of their own. Let the fight begin.
