A federal appeals court has ruled that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady must serve a four-game Deflategate suspension imposed by the NFL, overturning a lower judge and siding with the league in a battle with the NFL Players Association.
"We hold that the Commissioner properly exercised his broad discretion under the collective bargaining agreement and that his procedural rulings were properly grounded in that agreement and did not deprive Brady of fundamental fairness," the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday in a 2-1 decision in New York.
Brady, however, is not prepared to accept Monday's appeals court ruling and is exploring all his legal options with his attorneys, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
The decision by a three-judge panel may end the legal debate over the scandal that led to months of football fans arguing over air pressure and the reputation of one of the league's top teams. It is also likely to fuel a fresh round of debate over what role, if any, the quarterback and top NFL star played in using underinflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game in January 2015. The Patriots won the contest over the Indianapolis Colts and then won the Super Bowl.
"Our role is not to determine for ourselves whether Brady participated in a scheme to deflate footballs or whether the suspension imposed by the Commissioner should have been for three games or five games or none at all. Nor is it our role to second-guess the arbitrator's procedural rulings," Judge Barrington D. Parker wrote in the majority opinion. "Our obligation is limited to determining whether the arbitration proceedings and award met the minimum legal standards established by the Labor Management Relations Act."
The 2nd Circuit said the contract between players and the NFL gave the commissioner authority that was "especially broad."
"Even if an arbitrator makes mistakes of fact or law, we may not disturb an award so long as he acted within the bounds of his bargained-for authority," the court said.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell insisted that the suspension was deserved.
"We are pleased the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled today that the Commissioner properly exercised his authority under the collective bargaining agreement to act in cases involving the integrity of the game," the NFL said in a statement. "That authority has been recognized by many courts and has been expressly incorporated into every collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA for the past 40 years."
The NFLPA expressed disappointment in the ruling in a statement and said it will review its options.
"We fought Roger Goodell's suspension of Tom Brady because we know he did not serve as a fair arbitrator and that players' rights were violated under our collective bargaining agreement," the NFLPA said.
The NFLPA and Brady can petition for a re-hearing in front of the same panel and then the entire 2nd Circuit Court or take their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, though either move is unlikely and would be a steep, costly and time-consuming climb. They would have to request a stay of Brady's suspension during an appeal.
The NFL has the option of implementing the full suspension or attempting to reach a settlement and avoid further appeals.
Brady could miss games against the Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins,Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. He would be eligible to make his regular-season debut in Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns.
Ticket market-tracking company TiqIQ said that ticket listings for at least one of the Patriots' first four games was down almost double digits since news of the Deflategate reversal broke.
Listings for the Sept. 22 game at home against the Texans were down 8.22 percent on Monday, to an average of $430. Listings to the Miami and Buffalo home games were also down about 5.5 percent from Monday morning up until 3 p.m. ET.
Jimmy Garoppolo is only other quarterback currently on the Patriots' roster. He threw four passes in five games last season, completing one for six yards.
The Patriots had no official statement when reached by ESPN.
In Las Vegas, the Patriots, who were the consensus favorite to win Super Bowl 51 at 6-1, are now the co-favorites with the Seattle Seahawks at 8-1, according to sportsbook operator CG Technology. The Green Bay Packers (9-1), Pittsburgh Steelers (9-1) and Carolina Panthers (10-1) are deemed to be the next most likely teams to win the title game.
The appeals ruling follows a September decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman that went against the league, letting Brady skip the suspension. In his ruling, Berman cited "several significant legal deficiencies" in the league's handling of the controversy, including no advance notice of potential penalties, the refusal to produce a key witness and the apparent first-ever discipline of a player based on a finding of "general awareness" of someone else's wrongdoing.
The panel on Monday said the league's discipline was properly grounded in the collective bargaining agreement and that Brady was treated fairly. Chief Judge Robert Katzmann dissented.
"I am troubled by the Commissioner's decision to uphold the unprecedented four-game suspension," Katzmann said. "The Commissioner failed to even consider a highly relevant alternative penalty."
The appeals court settled the issue well before the start of the 2016 season, avoiding the tension that built last year when Brady didn't learn until a week before the season that he would be allowed to start in the Patriots' opener.
At oral arguments in March, appeals judges seemed skeptical of arguments made on Brady's behalf by the NFLPA.
Circuit Judge Denny Chin said evidence of ball tampering was "compelling, if not overwhelming" and that there was evidence that Brady "knew about it, consented to it, encouraged it."
The league argued that it was fair for Goodell to severely penalize Brady after he concluded that the prize quarterback tarnished the game by impeding the NFL's investigation by destroying a cellphone containing almost 10,000 messages.
Parker said the cellphone destruction raised the stakes "from air in a football to compromising the integrity of a proceeding that the commissioner had convened."
"So why couldn't the commissioner suspend Mr. Brady for that conduct alone?" he asked. Parker added: "With all due respect, Mr. Brady's explanation of that made no sense whatsoever."
Parker was also critical of the NFL at the arguments, saying Brady's lengthy suspension seemed at "first blush a draconian penalty."
Brady signed a two-year contract extension during the offseason that dropped his 2016 salary from $9 million to $1 million. That could save Brady almost $2 million in lost salary during a four-game suspension.
ESPN's Andrew Brandt, Mike Reiss and Darren Rovell, ESPN Chalk, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best and worst NFL teams at finding late-round steals
The third day of the NFL draft does not have the glitz or glamour of the first two, but the late rounds are where teams can find great values and shape their rosters.
Consider: The average sixth-round pick had a cap value of $460,000 in 2015, which is about 10 percent of the price for a top pick in the draft. If that late pick becomes even a serviceable starter, he provides more value per dollar than almost any other player on the team.
The alternative to filling a roster with homegrown talent is spending money in free agency. Generally, when comparing draft picks to free agents with the same on-field impact, the drafted players are cheaper and younger labor.
Because late-round picks provide almost no risk (most are expected to be cut), finding even a few value players worthy of making the roster is a bonus that can make all the difference for a championship-contending team.
So which teams are the best and worst at finding value in Rounds 4 to 7? To answer that question, we utilized Pro Football Reference's Approximate Value (AV) metric to break down every NFL draft pick over the past 10 seasons. To read the full explanation of our methodology, see the bottom of the article.
Here, I'll look in depth at the five best and worst teams at finding draft value over this span. For a full ranking of Nos. 1 to 32, consult the handy chart at the bottom.
Best late-round drafters
1. Green Bay Packers
Surplus AV per draft: Plus-26
Best pick: G Josh Sitton (135th overall, plus-29 AV in first four years)
Best pick: G Josh Sitton (135th overall, plus-29 AV in first four years)
Packers general manager Ted Thompson makes no secret of his intentions to build through the draft. Every player on the Packers' opening 53-man roster last season, except Julius Peppers, was either drafted by the team or signed as an undrafted free agent.
The later rounds are where Thompson works his magic. The Packers had 19 players on their 53-man opening-day roster who were selected in the fourth round or later. That was the highest number in the league -- the Minnesota Vikings were second with 17 -- and it included four of their five starting offensive linemen in Week 1.
2. Seattle Seahawks
Surplus AV per draft: Plus-23
Best pick: CB Richard Sherman (154th overall, plus-55 AV in first four years)
Best pick: CB Richard Sherman (154th overall, plus-55 AV in first four years)
The 2013 Super Bowl-winning Seahawks serve as a model for any GM managing a roster. Three of Seattle's top players on that team in terms of AV -- Sherman,K.J. Wright and Kam Chancellor -- were drafted in Rounds 4 to 7 and had a combined cap hit of $5.2 million, or about 4 percent of the total cap. (And that's not to mention the steal they got in the third round: QB Russell Wilson.)
With the money saved, Seattle could afford to spend on productive players, such as Chris Clemons and Michael Bennett, in free agency. Many of Seattle's top value picks have since cashed in, but their late-round success in 2011, which includes players such as Sherman, Wright and Malcolm Smith, is unrivaled over the past decade.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
Surplus AV per draft: Plus-19
Best pick: C Jason Kelce (191st overall, plus-22 AV in first four years)
Best pick: C Jason Kelce (191st overall, plus-22 AV in first four years)
The Eagles do not immediately come to mind as one of the top late-round drafting teams, but part of their success is due to their ability to stockpile draft picks (last week's trade with the Browns notwithstanding). Over the past 10 seasons, Philadelphia has made the third-most late-round selections (57), including the most such picks (32) acquired from other teams. That does not necessarily mean the Eagles traded down, but as Bill Barnwell recently wrote, successful drafting is about volume.
More than any other team, Philadelphia has been able to find linebackers late in the draft. Omar Gaither, Moise Fokou and Jamar Chaney are a few solid contributors the Eagles found in the fifth round or later.
4. Indianapolis Colts
Surplus AV per draft: Plus-18
Best pick: S Antoine Bethea (207th overall, plus-29 AV in first four years)
Best pick: S Antoine Bethea (207th overall, plus-29 AV in first four years)
With Bill Polian as GM and team president, the Colts were consistently one of the top drafting teams in the NFL. In the later rounds, Polian was able to nab Bethea, a three-time Pro Bowler, and a number of valuable pass-catchers, such as Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie and Jacob Tamme. Since Polian's departure, the Colts have not experienced the same level of success in the later rounds and rank 25th in this statistic since the start of 2012.
5. Houston Texans
Surplus AV per draft: Plus-17
Best pick: OT Derek Newton (214th overall, plus-20 AV in first four years)
Best pick: OT Derek Newton (214th overall, plus-20 AV in first four years)
Texans GM Rick Smith has had an inconsistent draft record in the middle rounds, but he has been able to find late-round value as well as any other talent evaluator. Newton, DE Jared Crick and C Ben Jones are all recent steals who started 16 games and combined to produce more AV than J.J. Watt (who led the league in the stat) last season.
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