DeflateGate: ESPN's Adam Schefter Says End of July for Tom Brady Appeal Decision

It looks like The Big O's source was a Big 0. The rumors of a Roger Goodell decision on Tom Brady's appeal during the MLB All Star break didn't come to fruition. It makes sense, too: there's no way that the NFL would upstage ESPN and the ESPYs after the NFL supposedly strong armed ESPN into the breakups of both Keith Olberman and Bill Simmons.

On @WEEI, Adam Schefter predicts Brady ruling won't come until the end of July.

— Ryan Hannable (@RyanHannable) July 15, 2015

Roger Goodell is delaying this as much as possible because he wants the New England Patriots quarterback in the most inconvenient position to appeal. He knows that no one supports the NFL at this point in time and that Brady's camp taking the verdict to the courts would be just another black eye on his leadership "ability." If Goodell's appeal decision comes at a point where Brady might reconsider going to court, then that'd be a small win for Goodell and the NFL.

Of course, Brady's camp has made it perfectly clear that any suspension will be taken to court, so Goodell is really just delaying the inevitable. And it also seems that the timing won't matter because Brady's camp will file for an injunction in either the labor-friendly Minnesota or the home town Massachusetts court systems, according to the Washington Post's Adam Kilgore.

Any appeal in federal court would include a request for an injunction to delay any suspension until a decision is reached. Essentially, Brady and the NFLPA would ask that the court freeze the ban until the case ends. The bar to attain an injunction is low – lawyers would only need to show that Brady had been caused "irreparable harm" by the NFL’s decision.

Brady's suspension will be temporarily lifted so long as Brady can show that the muckraking by the NFL has caused irreparably harm, which won't be hard to do since, "hey, Brady's a cheater, ammiright?" is all over the internet.

So no matter how long Goodell drags his feet, it's more probable than not that Brady will start the season under center.