Tom Brady Should Cede Preseason Snaps to Jimmy Garoppolo Until Deflategate Ends

While the New England Patriots hold out hope that Tom Brady's four-game suspension will be overturned following a court appeal, they must prepare for the worst. That means that one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history must step aside to allow Jimmy Garoppolo to get first-team preseason reps.

Michael Giardi of CSN New England reported that Brady is trying to convince the coaching staff to let him play against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night despite missing practice time. ESPN's Mike Reiss noted that the original plan called for the longtime starter to miss the game, but confirmed that nothing was finalized.

It's a difficult situation for Bill Belichick and Co. They don't want to completely destroy Brady's rhythm heading into the new season and find out late in the process that he's going to play Week 1. But they can't enter the season with an unprepared Garoppolo, either.

The second-year backup out of Eastern Illinois has endured an up-and-down camp. He's feeling more confident in the offense—"The terminology, calling the plays, reading the defenses, all that stuff. It all adds up"—but knows there are errors to clean up, via Chris Mason of the Boston Herald.

"You're never happy about (the miscues)," Garoppolo said. "But as a quarterback you have to keep it even-keeled. You never want to get too high, never too low, and just ride it like that."

Of course, it doesn't come as a surprise that Garoppolo isn't clicking on all cylinders. He attempted just 27 passes as a rookie and is potentially being thrust into the most important position on the reigning Super Bowl champions. There will be some bumps along the way.

The best way to accelerate the process is to get him as many first-team snaps as possible during the preseason—not only to continue acclimating to the speed of the game, but also to start building chemistry with Rob Gronkowski and the rest of the receiving corps over the next month.

Getting Brady to let that happen might take some convincing from Belichick. He's the type of quarterback—and Peyton Manning has long been the same way—who likes to remain in complete control as often as humanly possible.

It's seemingly not in the nature of those legends to let other players lead their offenses. But this is about getting the Patriots' offense most prepared for the regular season.

That doesn't mean Brady needs to sit out the entire preseason. He just needs to let Garoppolo get a lot more reps with the first-team offense than a backup would normally get without forcing the other starters to risk injury by playing deep into the second half of each game.

If Brady is truly worried about the rust factor, he can get some extra work in the fourth preseason game, when the starters usually come out extremely early anyway.

The whole situation is a juggling act that could change at a moment's notice. If a settlement is reached or the judge makes a final decision in the Deflategate case, the Patriots can respond accordingly. Both sides requested a final decision by Sept. 4 at the latest, but that would be after the preseason ends.

Ultimately, the Patriots must prepare as if Garoppolo is going to start for the first four games until they receive concrete word otherwise. The only way to make that happen is to get him heavily involved with the starters during the preseason.

Even if it's not in Brady's nature to relinquish control, he should certainly understand that this is a unique set of circumstances. New England is supporting him in his quest to show his innocence but also needs to get ready in case the ruling doesn't go in his favor.

After all, he can let his competitive fire simmer now, because there's no doubt it will be burning hotter than ever when he returns, whether it's Week 1, Week 6 or somewhere in between.