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Tom Brady: DeflateGate suspension, Donald Trump, Jimmy Garoppolo

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Tom Brady is facing a possible suspension from the NFL for his involvement in the DeflateGate scandal, with current and former teammates rising to his defense along with one unusual endorsement from real estate magnate Donald Trump. Meanwhile New England Patriots fans are trying to figure out how much faith their have in backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in case he’s pressed into action for part of the season, even fans around the rest of the league try to figure out how to spell his last name. But is Brady really about to be suspended?

The majority of prominent sports reporters from around the nation have chimed in to suggest that Tom Brady should be suspended in 2015, with their assessments ranging anywhere from one to six games, along with a few outliers asserting he should be banned for the entire season - which would be unprecedented for a defending Super Bowl MVP. That alone raises questions of whether Brady, who is in his late thirties, might simply retire rather than slog through the ignominy of sitting out an entire year.

But even as the public attempts to figure out the most appropriate punishment for Tom Brady, there’s an equal line of debate taking place: how does a proven champion, who is likely to win anyway, end up convincing himself that he has to cheat? And that circles back to the comments made by Donald Trump. Not only did Trump assert via social media that Brady is innocent, he also made clear that the two are friends.

It’s not uncommon for rich and famous people to end up traveling in the same social circles and becoming friends even if they participate in very different lines of work. However, one has to wonder the kind of influence which Donald Trump has had over Tom Brady throughout the years. Trump has amassed much of his fortune by talking investors into sinking their money into unprofitable deals, and then either suing those investors in order to keep them from being able to get what they were entitled to out of the deal, or outright declaring corporate bankruptcy several times in order to legally wash away those obligations. Is this the kind of advice which he’s been feeding Brady?

Of course Trump works within a financial and real estate market in which the laws and rules are largely rigged to allow the rich to get richer, with no real consequence other than reputational, and Trump has never cared what his detractors think of him. But Tom Brady works in an arena where the rules are hard and fast, and the governing body likes to hand out punishments for even minor or arbitrary violations, for public relations reasons.

It’s not the kind of environment in which Trump’s “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying” philosophy can end up working. And yet Brady appears to have tried to apply that mantra to his NFL career, breaking rules to gain a competitive advantage which were so minor he may not have seen a difference, and didn’t need in order to win anyway. The old notion of being careful about whom you allow to influence you is one which Tom Brady perhaps should have taken more seriously before allowing Donald Trump’s influence into his life, and it may now cost him in the form of a lengthy suspension. One can only hope that Jimmy Garoppolo never ends up getting Trump’s phone number.

New England Patriots draft haul: Bill Belichick returns to form

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The New England Patriots headed into the NFL Draft as the defending Super Bowl champions, but that victory had a lot to do with Bill Belichick the brilliant head coach overcoming Bill Belichick the once-great personnel man. It’s been difficult to put a finger on why, but his drafts and roster moves in recent seasons largely hadn’t lived up to the reputation he earned in his first decade on the job. But the 2015 draft is a different story, and for the most part, it appears Belichick has returned to form.

The New England Patriots took Malcolm Brown at the end of the first round, a player who probably should have gone about fifteenth and slid down the draft for no good reason. That’s the kind of move which the league has come to expect from Bill Belichick, not only because it’s a great value pick, but also because it bolsters the Pats defensive line at a time when other AFC East teams are overspending to boost their own D-lines. It may not be enough to cancel out the Dolphins addition of Ndamukong Suh, but it’s a lot less costly. And when you’re the best team in the division to begin with, you have some breathing room. The Pats did get dicey in the second round, however.

Defensive back Jordan Richards is the kind of question-mark player who, in a few years, will either make Belichick and the New England Patriots look like geniuses or look foolish, depending on how he turns out. Will he be enough to replace Darrelle Revis? No. But will it be enough to keep the status quo pecking order in the division? Probably.

New England Patriots Draft play: replacing Wilfork, wide receivers

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The New England Patriots are the defending Super Bowl champions, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have holes to fill in the NFL Draft in order to bolster their chances of repeating. The Pats got by last season with a wide receiver corps which was arguably subpar but was ultimately lifted by the late season heroics of quarterback Tom Brady. And stalwart Vince Wilfork has left the building, signing elsewhere and forcing New England to reevaluate its defensive line strategy heading into the draft.

One key for the New England Patriots heading into the draft is whether the NFL will penalize the team by taking away any of its 2015 draft picks as punishment for the “DeflateGate” controversy in which the team allegedly deflated footballs in the AFC Championship in the hopes of gaining a competitive advantage. But the league should either punish or exonerate the Patriots before the draft, meaning they’ll know heading into the weekend what they have to work with.

So will the New England Patriots opt to bolster their defensive front seven and try to repeat as Super Bowl champions the old fashioned way, or will they upgrade Tom Brady’s weapons at either wide receiver or running back in the upper rounds of the NFL Draft? That much will be answered soon enough.