Judge Richard Berman has ruled in favor of Tom Brady and the NFLPA, nullifying the quarterback’s four-game suspension, according to Larry Neumeister and Tom Hays of The Associated Press. While the NFL figures to appeal the decision and continue the litigation process, the ruling paves the way for Brady to start for the Patriots in Week 1.
After Brady was initially suspended for four games by the league for his supposed involvement in DeflateGate, commissioner Roger Goodell acted as the arbitrator during Brady’s appeal, and upheld the suspension. The NFLPA appealed that decision in court, and throughout the legal process, Judge Berman was critical of the NFL’s case, hammering the league’s lawyers with questions, an indication that momentum was shifting in Brady’s favor.
Judge Berman continually encouraged the NFL and NFLPA to work out a compromise, but with Brady unwilling to acknowledge any involvement in deflating footballs, and the league unwilling to budge from its stance that he accept guilt, the two sides never got close to reaching a settlement. That left Berman to make a decision one way or the other, either upholding the four-game suspension or overturning it. As the AP report indicates, he opted for the latter.
With Brady no longer having to serve the suspension, Jimmy Garoppolo will return to a backup role, while the Super Bowl MVP prepares to face the Steelers a week from tonight. If Brady had been forced to miss the first four games of the season, he also would have sat out contests against the Bills, Jaguars, and Cowboys, but he now appears poised to play in all of those games.
