The NFL has made it clear they are unwilling to reopen settlement talks with Tom Brady or his camp.
Just days after New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension was upheld by a federal appeals court, the league appears to be trying to close the books on any talk of extending the Deflategate drama further.
While many have wondered what Brady’s remaining options are, apparently attempting to negotiate a settlement is no longer one of them.
Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the NFL is entirely uninterested in trying to find a compromise, believing the time to have done so has passed.
NFL does not see any need to reopen any settlement talks with Tom Brady and the NFLPA, per league source. NFL... https://t.co/OX3KbJzUIm
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 27, 2016
The upheld suspension comes nearly nine months after Judge Richard Berman overturned Brady’s punishment in a U.S. district court. Brady had initially appealed his suspension directly to the league, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell rejected that appeal and forced Brady and his team to pursue legal action.
After Berman’s somewhat surprising decision, the league wasted no time in proceeding with an appeal of their own with regards to Berman’s decision, and after court sessions were held last month in which both sides pleaded their cases, a three-judge panel decided on Monday to reinstate Brady’s controversial suspension for his role in the deflation of footballs during 2015’s AFC Championship Game.
The NFLPA now has two weeks to make a decision on what to do next – whether that’s yet another appeal to a federal court or even the possibility of taking the case all the way up to the Supreme Court. If the suspension stands, Brady will miss the first quarter of the 2016 regular season and untested backup Jimmy Garoppolo will start for the Patriots at quarterback until he returns.
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