The New England Patriots have finally learned what the first four games are going to look like of the 2015 season. After awaiting a ruling on Tom Brady's 'DeflateGate' appeal, the NFL has upheld his four-game suspension meaning the Super Bowl winning quarterback will not be seen for the first month of the season. This is not the ideal way the Patriots wanted to begin the campaign to return to the Super Bowl as New England must now look at an potential roster adjustments to help Jimmy Garoppolo make his first official start in the league.
Without Brady, Garoppolo is the man in charge for the Patriots. The second-year quarterback saw a brief amount of playing time last season while recording a touchdown in that time and now he is starter for the first four games. Everyone from Rob Gronkowski to Brandon LaFell have expressed their overall confidence in the quarterback's ability to keep the team moving, but do the Patriots have enough firepower to help the young star?
The Patriots already had roster question marks heading into training camp without the suspension of Brady. LeGarrette Blount will be suspended for the first game while pass-catching running backs like Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley are no longer on the roster. According to CBSSports.com, the Patriots are a perfect option for certain free agents like Ray Rice, Chris Johnson and Ben Tate to at least help in the short-term. In Week 1, Garoppolo will be dealing with a rotation that consists of Jonas Gray, Travaris Cadet and James Develin.
The Patriots could also look to boost their receiving group. Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola are not exactly consistent down-field threats. While Garoppolo has plenty of options in the short game, he lacks a lot of deep presence. The Patriots could easily target veteran minimum contracts for players like Reggie Wayne or James Jones to give the quarterback a little more to work with.
Brady is expected to fight the suspension in court. According to ESPN.com, the quarterback would be better off just accepting the suspension and helping Garoppolo prepare for his first league start. Brady released a statement following the ruling stating that he did nothing wrong and that the appeal process is a "sham."
"I am very disappointed by the NFL's decision to uphold the 4 game suspension against me," Brady said in a released statement via Facebook. "I did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either. Despite submitting to hours of testimony over the past 6 months, it is disappointing that the Commissioner upheld my suspension based upon a standard that it was 'probable' that I was 'generally aware' of misconduct. The fact is that neither I, nor any equipment person, did anything of which we have been accused. He dismissed my hours of testimony and it is disappointing that he found it unreliable."