Tom Brady Appeal News: There is No News
The latest round of the Tom Brady vs. the NFL court case concluded on March 3rd, 2016, but a verdict may still be a long time coming…or maybe not.
When it comes to Tom Brady’s never-ending court case with the NFL, does “no news” mean good news, or does “no news” mean bad news?
Nobody really knows, and according to ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss, it’s looking like everyone’s going to get the news at the same time – whenever the three judges deciding the NFL’s appeal verdict are good and ready.
Mike Reiss, the Patriots reporter for ESPN who might be the undisputed heavyweight champ when it comes to interacting with fans, took the time to answer a tweet asking the question everyone wants to know the answer to:
@MikeReiss any news on Brady trial? Are we going to have to be nervous all the way up to week 1 again thus year?
— User Name (@TyBsTweets) April 8, 2016
Reiss’s answer, which he wrote up on ESPN’s Boston page because it was way too long for the Twitter-machine, brought up three good points.
- There’s no deadline for a ruling, so the judges will take as long as they want and/or need to;
- Judge Katzman went out of his way to mention that “This is an expeditious court”, so Reiss thinks it’s reasonable to assume the court will have a verdict before training camp starts in July;
- Neither Brady or the NFL is out of the woods yet. The judges could decide to send the case back to Judge Richard Berman, who decided Brady’s initial appeal. I wrote about what may happen in that somewhat-unlikely-but-not-really scenario here, if you’d like to read it.
Here’s Reiss’s complete take on what’s going on, per ESPN Boston:
"“…this is a situation where it’s unlikely that there will be any type of tangible news until the three judges issue their decision. The appeal hearing was March 3 and there was no set date in which a ruling was expected. But at the hearing, Judge Robert Katzmann seemed to hint that it wouldn’t be dragged on for an extended period of time by saying, “This is an expeditious court.” Patriots training camp will begin in late July, so one would think there might be some type of clarity with a ruling by that point.The other factor, of course, is that the ruling might not be the end game. The three judges could remand the case back to Judge Richard Berman. Or they could rule in favor of one side, which could lead to more appeals.So for now, things are in a holding pattern until we get through this next step in the process.”"
Fortunately, the Patriots still have the high-upside Jimmy Garoppolo on the roster, even after some armchair GMs were screaming to trade him after Brady signed his extension this year. If the suspension appeal ends up with Brady being suspended again, the Pats could either address the backup-backup QB situation through the draft, with their treasure chest of late-round picks, or sign a veteran backup, like they did last year with Ryan Lindley.
Obviously, this puts New England in the same holding pattern they were in all offseason last year – the team has no clue whether they can expect Tom Brady to be suspended for the first four games of the season or not, so the team, realistically, has to prepare for the season as if he won’t be there, lest they get caught with their pants down from a “JK, BRADY IS SUSPENDED” verdict.
Until then, New England fans, and the team, can just get used to your stomach jumping every time you get a mobile alert from the ESPN app, since they’re apparently finding out as soon as the rest of us.