Breer: Brady May Accept Reduced Suspension Rather Than Fight In Court
BOSTON (CBS) -- We're all waiting for Roger Goodell to announce his decision on Tom Brady's appeal, but we may have to wait a little longer.
Brady appealed his four-game suspension stemming from the whole DeflateGate mess back on June 23, and some expected Goodell to announce his ruling this week. But as we hit Friday, that's looking less likely.
The NFL Network's Albert Breer joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Friday and said a decision may not be announced until the start of training camp at the end of the month, which would put some pressure on the Patriots quarterback.
"There is an advantage to dropping it on him at the beginning of training camp, because then he's in football mode, focused on football, and maybe he wants to put it all behind him," said Breer. "I personally think there are people at the league offices who would be content with waiting until the beginning of training camp."
The NFLPA will reportedly fight any suspension, but Breer said that is completely up to No. 12. While he'd love to clear his name of this whole mess, there are some negatives for Brady if he takes his fight to Federal Court.
"You lose control. You would have to have an awfully strong case to win because the courts done like to intervene with labor law," said Breer. "They don't like to break up and overturn those agreements. You need to have an awfully strong case.
"It's also not about his innocence anymore. The appeal was about innocence, this is going to be about flaws in the process," added Breer. "There is an awfully high standard to win in court, so there is a chance the judge looks at it and says to Brady and the NFL, 'What the hell are you doing here?' But what if that happens in October or November, and the injunction you got for the suspension is gone, and you're serving it in November and December. It could be a mess and he'd lose control over it."
Breer thinks if the suspension is reduced to a game or two, and the NFL changes some of the language in regards to Brady's involvement, Brady may just accept it and turn his attention to the 2015 season.
"If they cut it down to two games, he may look at it and say 'at least we can control this.' It gets to September 27 and it's over and it's no longer an issue, rather than drag it throughout the season. It's a much tougher choice than it's being made out to be," he said. "I know Brady feels he's been wronged in this, but he's been remarkably level-headed about this whole thing, as angry as he was. I think he'll make a level-headed decision, and that may be if this is cut down to a game or two games, he would seriously consider walking away.
"If you look at Brady's career, he always pushes things aside to focus on football," said Breer. "He doesn't want anything to ever get in the way of succeeding on the football field."
Breer also touched on some of the big money contracts signed by a few big-name wide receivers this week: