The start of the New England Patriot's season defending their Super Bowl title will commence without their star quarterback, Tom Brady, who was suspended for the team's first four games. On Monday, the NFL announced that Brady will be suspended without pay for violating NFL policy during "deflategate."
The all-star team will also be fined a total of $1 million and will relinquish their first round pick for the 2016 NHL draft along with a fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft. Brady's agent revealed that the quarterback will appeal the four game suspension.
The punishment was put into place once it was decided by investigator Ted Wells that it was "more probable than not" that Brady was "at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities" in regards to the deflated footballs used in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, showed extreme disapproval towards the franchise's penalties. "Despite our conviction that there was no tampering with footballs, it was our intention to accept any discipline levied by the league," Kraft said, notes Around the NFL. "Today's punishment, however, far exceeded any reasonable expectation. It was based completely on circumstantial rather than hard or conclusive evidence."
Commissioner Roger Goodell agreed with the punishment put into place by Troy Vincent, NFL Executive Vice President. They both stood firm on the fact that Brady's failure to cooperate with the league was an important factor in their decision.
"The report documents your failure to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation, including by refusing to produce any relevant electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.), despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information, and by providing testimony that the report concludes was not plausible and contradicted by other evidence," Vincent wrote in a statement to Brady.
This wasn't the first time the Patriot's were fined due to involvement in shady business. In 2007, the team was fined for the "spygate" controversy, videotaping the New York Jets practices and plays.
"Patriots owner Robert Kraft advised Commissioner Roger Goodell last week that Patriots employees John Jastremski and James McNally have been indefinitely suspended without pay by the club, effective on May 6th. Neither of these individuals may be reinstated without the prior approval of NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent," the statement says.
Earlier this week, Kraft stated that his team "had done nothing inappropriate in this process or in violation of the NFL rules." However, he further explained that the team would accept whatever punishments may come their way.
Brady's first game back will be during week six, Sunday night versus the Indianapolis Colts--coincidence?
