Julian Edelman had the appeal of his four-game suspension denied earlier this month, and the New England Patriots receiver is reportedly not planning to pursue other avenues in which he can have the ban overturned.
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Edelman has no plans to take his case to federal court the way Tom Brady did with his four-game suspension in the Deflategate scandal. Instead, the 33-year-old is focusing all his time and energy on being ready for Week 5.
#Patriots WR Julian Edelman won’t follow Tom Brady into federal court after an arbitrator recently upheld his PED suspension. Edelman decided not to sue the league, per source — he’ll focus his energy on football and preparing for Week 5 return. Ready to compete, on the field.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 20, 2018
Edelman, of course, is more familiar than most with Brady’s case, and he saw how Brady dragged it out and still lost. There’s a reason Edelman tried to win his appeal on a technicality, and that’s because it’s extremely difficult to win an appeal of a performance-enhancing drug suspension. The results in federal court would almost certainly be the same.
