Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s announcement that he will not fight NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s punishment for Deflategate does not affect the separate punishment of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Moment’s after Kraft’s announcement, NFL Players Association spokesman George Atallah confirmed that nothing has changed as far as Brady’s punishment goes: Brady is still appealing, and the NFLPA is still supporting that appeal.
It’s still possible that Brady could follow Kraft’s lead and drop his appeal as well, but that seems unlikely: Brady is a competitor, and he’s not going to stand by and let the league take away a quarter of his season.
In fact, if anything, Kraft’s decision not to appeal might strengthen Brady’s chances of winning an appeal: Perhaps NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be favorably inclined toward the Patriots now that Kraft has agreed to forego an appeal of the team’s punishment. There may have even been a little back-room dealing in which Goodell hinted to Kraft that Brady’s appeal will go better if the Patriots take their medicine.
We know that the Patriots won’t have a first-round draft pick in 2016. But it may be a while before we know if the Patriots will have their quarterback on the field for the first four games of 2015.
