A faint glimmer of hope for a DeflateGate settlement between the NFL and Tom Brady appeared Wednesday morning in the form of an Adam Schefter tweet. Schefter reported that Brady is willing to accept some form of punishment, but it can only be for failing to cooperate with the Wells investigation and not accepting the report’s findings.
Tom Brady reportedly willing to compromise over DeflateGate, but the NFL won’t budge
The Patriots quarterback is reportedly willing to accept some form of punishment in the DeflateGate saga as long as he doesn’t have to accept the NFL’s findings from the Wells investigation.
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Settlement talks between the NFL and Tom Brady have yet to produce an agreement despite a federal judge’s urging. The two sides are headed back to a Manhattan court room on Wednesday for another round of settlement talks in front of the Judge Richard Berman, albeit without Brady and Roger Goodell.
A middle ground has been elusive so far. The NFL is said to be standing firm on its insistence that Brady accept the findings of the Wells report, i.e. that it was “more probable than not” that he played a role in deflating game balls ahead of the AFC Championship game against the Colts in January.
Both sides spent a long day in court on Aug. 12 making their respective cases to Judge Berman. That’s been followed by intermittent settlement talks, including Brady and Goodell meeting for a few hours on Tuesday to no avail. The two sides have until Sep. 4 to make a deal. If they can’t agree to something by that date, Judge Berman will decide the case.
On Wednesday morning, Schefter also tweeted out a picture of the box containing an NFL game ball. The manufacturer notes on the packaging that air retention could be an issue and cautions the user to avoid inclement weather. It’s an important point to make. The science behind ball inflation and the impact of outside conditions has flummoxed Ted Wells and the NFL since the earliest days of the DeflateGate investigation, undercutting the validity of their case. Schefter reported the Brady news less than three hours after tweeting out that information about the game balls, interesting timing to say the least.
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