12:22pm: Brady is done fighting the suspension, but the NFLPA might not be ready to throw in the towel:
“After careful consideration and discussion with Tom Brady, the NFLPA will not be seeking a stay of the four game suspension with the 2nd Circuit. This decision was made in the interest of certainty and planning for Tom prior to the New England Patriots season. We will continue to review all of our options and we reserve our rights to petition for cert to the Supreme Court,” the union said in a statement.
11:57am: Tom Brady announced that he will no longer pursue an appeal of his suspension via the court system (Facebook link):
“I’m very grateful for the overwhelming support I’ve received from Mr. Kraft, the Kraft family, coach Belichick, my coaches and teammates, the NFLPA, my agents, my loving family and most of all, our fans. It has been a challenging 18 months and I have made the difficult decision to no longer proceed with the legal process. I’m going to work hard to be the best player I can be for the New England Patriots and I look forward to having the opportunity to return to the field this fall.” 
Brady‘s chances at again avoiding the four-game suspension for his role in the Patriots’ Deflategate controversy dwindled again on Wednesday, with the Second United States Circuit Court of Appeals denying the quarterback’s request for a rehearing. After that happened, Brady was left with one final legal option: petitioning to have his case heard before the Supreme Court. Given that the SCOTUS handles some of the most important legal matters in the country, Brady’s chances of getting a new trial seemed slim. While Brady still could have filed for that hearing with the hopes of effectively deferring his four-game ban, he has elected to put the circus behind him.
Now that Brady has reluctantly accepted his four-game suspension, he won’t be eligible to return to regular-season action until Sunday, October 9th in Cleveland. The Patriots will be without their franchise quarterback for games against the Cardinals, Dolphins, Texans, and Bills, leaving understudy Jimmy Garoppolo in the starting role for the first month.
Brady will be docked four games worth of pay, which equals out to just $235K. During the ban, he will be prohibited from having contact with the team.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
So this is not an admission of guilt. But we will read ad nauseum comments saying it was.
I live in Mass, not a Patriots fan, and it’s still like everyone and their mother will scream guilty when no doubt this is like you said not an admission of guilt
How is it not? Why drop the appeal if you are innocent? It’s not like he doesn’t have to money to keep fighting and “support” from the patriots. Not to mention you’re 18 months into it. So stopping now proves what exactly?
It gives him the opportunity to say that he was the “bigger man” in this whole ordeal, when in reality both parties are petulant children.
his only hope is the Supreme Court the odds of his case being heard were like 0.6% (guesstimation) it’s cheaper and it ends the drama that is deflate gate because even if he won I’m sure we wouldn’t have heard the end of it
I hope this crap is finally over. I’m sick and tired of it all. Everyone and their dog have made a big deal out of it but the team who actually lost the game! There has to better things to talk about sports wise than this. move on already!
He was guilty …period
I can see Goodell patting himself on the back right now for “a job well done”. As a Pats fan this is absolutely nauseating.
I don’t care about this issue and I live in Pittsburgh and hate the Pats. I don’t have an issue with Brady I have one with the NFLPA and NFL. More so the NFLPA. Have you ever seen anything like this in any other sport? If you want to say Goodell overstepped fine but guess who gave him the power to do so! Why weren’t these things hammered out properly in the CBA? I will say again it seems like the NFLPA got blinded by the % of revenue they were to receive and turned a blind eye to other things. So when those other things come up they now want to argue up to the Supreme Court. The relationship between the NFLPA and the NFL is a joke. In no other sport is it well known that a 3 game suspension turns into a 2 game and a 2 game into a 1 game. These 2 groups are ruining the game not some ball boy that may or may no have let some air out of a ball in a game that was a blow out.
The NFLPA is widely regarded as one of the worst players’ unions in sports. The other unions have had more success because of their willingness to do a lockout…something the NFL players have been unwilling to do so far.
Why would they want a lockout? It would be a PR nightmare if they held a lockout over a discipline policy. It’s just sad to see the NFLPA agree to a CBA and when they don’t like something about it they go to court. It’s like they scrolled through the phone book and picked a random lawyer to check the wording of the CBA. They want the cake and eat it too
Oh I’m not saying they should lock out for a discipline policy, just saying that when the CBA expires/the sides can opt-out, the NFLPA should consider it. They obviously won’t get everything they want, but a lockout should result in the owners caving a bit and giving the players a little more.
This has been a train wreck from the outset! The Wells Report was a joke! NFL legal team misrepresented facts & were not transparent with NFLPA. Ideal Gas Law debunked the football tampering theories. Goodell needs to go &/or his power needs to be limited!
I still think too many people overlook the biggest thing Brady did and that was destroy evidence. Then give the flimsy excuse he destroys his phones so people can’t get information off them. I could care less if he had the deflator let a few psi out of the balls or not, but his arrogance about destroying his phone and acting like he did is what got me. Then all the NE fans that think the guy with the nickname deflator was because he was losing weight needs to pull your heads out. If Brady would have come out and said I did it I didn’t think it was a big deal hebwould have gotten a fine and it would have all been over with no big deal. His arrogance and that of Goodells too made this into the fiasco it was. Hopefully the NE fans can drop it and we can go on with the season. It is FB calls go for you they go against you it is a new season let’s have fun enjoy it and hope all the players make it through with no permanent injuries.
Please do some research. The Wells Report explicitly gave permission for Brady to destroy his phone without repercussion. It wasn’t until the NFL case started to look like it was going south that the phone turned into a big deal. Secondly, the NFL leaked the emails from Brady’s phone (re Peyton Manning). Do you honestly think nothing else would’ve been leaked if he didn’t destroy his phone? Please be honest.
Tom Brady destroyed his phone around March 6th and the wells report was released in May so yeah it have him permission to destroy it beforehand. Google is your friend take off the blinders and use it.
Assuming that you were replying to me, thanks for making my point. Read the Wells Report. It states explicitly that during the investigation (which, as you pointed out, was still ongoing in March), Brady was given permission to do anything with his phone that he wanted, including destroying it. Don’t just Google and read biased ESPN and NFL nonsense, read the actual Wells Report before trying to comment about it.