It appears Tom Brady and the NFL Players Association have blinked first.
The NFLPA and Brady’s representatives (but not Brady himself) were back in court Wednesday morning to continue negotiations with the NFL over the New England Patriots quarterback’s four-game suspension for his alleged role in Deflategate.
To this point, the two sides haven’t come close to reaching a settlement, with Brady’s camp refusing to accept any form of suspension and the league insisting on upholding the full ban. Yet ESPN’s Adam Schefter, citing league sources, provided an important update Wednesday.
This is the first we’ve heard of Brady potentially being open to accepting a form of suspension. Yet Schefter’s report does fall in line with previous reports that Brady only is willing to be punished for failure to cooperate, and not for the findings in the Wells Report. Brady denied several parts of the Wells Report during his appeal to commissioner Roger Goodell, so it’s unlikely his stance on that will change.
A resolution still doesn’t appear to be in sight, though, as Schefter said settlement talks still haven’t gone anywhere. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman admitted as much when he said Brady didn’t need to be in New York for Wednesday’s court session.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
