Tom Brady has apparently made the NFL an offer it can refuse.
Caption: Tom Brady in action against the Washington Redskins Aug. 28, 2009. Photograph by Keith Allison.
The NFL Players Association, on behalf of the Deflategator, has offered to have Tommy Boy pay a big fine in lieu of a four-game suspension. The overture has “met with silence” in the office of commish Roger Goodell, who heard Brady’s appeal June 23. The New England Patriots’ quarterback is prepared to make a federal case out of this should he be suspended for probably having knowledge of subordinates deflating footballs in the A.F.C. Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts earlier this year. But the fact that the Players Association has put out an offer seems like the moment in a crime show when the defense looks to plea bargain. And that suggests a certain guilt.
The fact that the commissioner’s office hasn’t leapt at the offer suggests that it is unlikely to rule in Brady’s favor.
Which means that backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo will be getting some playing time, much as Quinn Novak, the backup QB in my forthcoming novel, “The Penalty for Holding,” does when Lance Reinhart, the New York Temps’ star, is injured in a freak sexcapade.
Who knows? Maybe like Quinn, Garoppolo will pick up the ball and run with it – so to speak.