Report: NFLPA plans to go to court unless Tom Brady suspension reversed

Most folks, from the start, felt that the NFL would reduce New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension. The NFL often operates this way — over-punishing and then reducing it, even though that approach makes no sense and makes the league look indecisive.

What nobody still seems to know is if Brady will accept a lesser suspension as a result of his deflate-gate appeal. And a report on Wednesday said that he will not, or at least the union won’t.

Ryan Smith, an ABC News correspondent who does legal analysis for ABC and ESPN, cited NFLPA sources in tweeting that if Brady’s appeal results in him being suspended for any games, the NFLPA will fight it in federal court. NFL Network’s Albert Breer said the final choice on whether to go to court will be up to Brady.

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Whether this is an empty threat for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to think about as he decides on the appeal (which happened on June 23, but no rush Roger) remains to be seen, but it wouldn’t come as a huge shock. Brady has never admitted to doing anything wrong in deflate-gate. And even though investigator Ted Wells was paid millions and given a few months to find something, he never found anything remotely specific to pin on Brady either. it might not be ideal to go to federal court, which would make the deflate-gate circus even bigger, with Brady’s chances of winning likely resting on if a judge feels he or she can overrule a collective-bargaining agreement, but perhaps Brady will feel that’s a better option than accepting an unfair punishment.

Brady’s suspension seems very unlikely to stay at four games, especially after Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy’s suspension was reduced from 10 games to four. If Brady is given the same suspension for kinda-sorta-maybe-knowing something about footballs being under-inflated as Hardy got for a domestic violence case, it will be open season on Goodell and the NFL. And rightfully so.

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Brady has said almost nothing about this debacle since the Super Bowl was over, so it’s hard to say for sure what his thoughts are on the matter. But if this latest report is accurate, he could be ready to fight any suspension Goodell gives him.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab