Bedard On Brady's Appeal: Team-First Player May Reluctantly Accept Lesser Punishment
BOSTON (CBS) - 98.5 The Sports Hub's Scott Zolak and Marc Bertrand had on Greg Bedard of Sports Illustrated Monday morning, who has written extensively about Tom Brady and his upcoming appeal with the NFL for his four-game suspension.
Commissioner Roger Goodell will serve as the arbitrator of the hearing.
Bedard believes Brady will only take this fight so far, and take whatever the reduced penalty is from Goodell.
"Look at Tom's entire body of work. His career has been predicated on, and why he's been as great as he's been is because he's always put the team first. Always. In every situation. Including his latest contract extension," Bedard said. "He agreed, at least starting this year and the following two years, to be paid at basically half the rate he should. That's so they can put the team around him that's needed to win at this point in his career."
Bedard believes this precedent of being a team-friendly player could serve as an indicator of how he attacks this situation.
"If he's done this his entire career, at this stage with what's going on, is he just going to chuck that and go to the courts? Once you go to the courts it's out of your hands, as far as when the suspension is going to be and how long it is going to be," said Bedard. "If they get to a place where Roger Goodell says the suspension is one or two games, I think Tom is going to have to think long and hard. 'Do I continue doing this?'"
As Bedard notes, Brady is already guilty in the court of public opinion, so going the distance against the NFL could prove to be a futile matter if clearing his name is what's most important to him. Bedard thinks that Brady could ultimately come to a point where he settles for a lesser punishment.
"At least 55 percent of NFL fans think he did something. Is going to court and playing court football going to change the minds of those people? Probably not. At the end of the day do you want to just sit for two games in September, or roll the dice and maybe have to sit four games in October and November when the playoffs are on the line?" Bedard asks.
"It's going to be a tough choice for Tom. There's no doubt. It'll be interesting to see what happens. That's for sure," he adds.
Another interesting angle that Bedard brought up is the Jimmy Garoppolo part of all this.
"[Brady] has already said that [the end of his Patriots career] will not be of his choosing. So if he sits out, and all of a sudden Jimmy Garoppolo plays winning football, maybe Belichick starts thinking, 'You know what? Maybe we want to pay our quarterback $850,000 next year instead of $8.5 million,'" said Bedard. "There's a whole bunch of things wrapped into this."
Listen below for the full discussion:
