The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) will be filing a petition on behalf of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to have a rehearing before a panel of judges from the Second Circuit, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. Earlier this offseason, two of the three judges assigned the NFL's appeal of Judge Berman's ruling in favor of the NFLPA, overruled and reinstated the NFL's four-game suspension, effective for the start of the 2016 season.
Per Sports Illustrated's Michael McCann, the NFLPA is hoping "for a rehearing en banc, in which all 13 of the active judges on the Second Circuit court of appeals plus Judge Parker (who is a senior status judge but eligible under court rules to participate in a rehearing because he was on the three-judge panel) would hear a new appeal."
A majority of the judges have to agree to grant a rehearing, and would likely result in a temporary lift of Brady's suspension- and DeflateGate would last for another offseason. McCann believes the odds of the Second Circuit rehearing the appeal are very low.
McCann notes that if the petition for the rehearing fails, the NFLPA and Brady can move on towards an appeal with the Supreme Court, while petitioning for a "stay" in the suspension, which would be "a court order preventing the NFL from carrying out its punishment...until the appeals process is complete."
The odds are not in Brady's favor, but he's going to continue to fight until the end; hopefully the case remains in the legal system and Brady remains unsuspended until well after he retires. Hooray for justice.