UPDATE (May 15, 8:45 a.m. ET): The league confirmed to NFL Media’s Albert Breer that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell indeed will hear Tom Brady’s appeal of his four-game suspension.
ORIGINAL STORY: Bad news, New England Patriots fans. Tom Brady’s fate reportedly rests in the hands of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Goodell will hear Brady’s four-game Deflategate suspension appeal, as first reported by Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman. NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent, not Goodell, handed down the suspension on Brady.
Goodell “authorized” the discipline imposed by Vincent. The commissioner said in a statement earlier this week: “We reached these decisions after extensive discussion with Troy Vincent and many others. We relied on the critical importance of protecting the integrity of the game and the thoroughness and independence of the Wells Report.”
If Brady and the NFL Players Association don’t accept Goodell’s appeal ruling, they can take the case to federal court.
Brady was suspended based on Ted Wells’ findings in his Deflategate investigation. The Patriots sent out a rebuttal to the report Thursday night.
Thumbnail photo via Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports Images
