It had become an annual ritual for the NFL: beginning a season with a major controversy over a matter of player discipline looming.
The 2015 season played out with Tom Brady and the NFL Players Association clashing with the league in court over the four-game suspension given to the quarterback in the Deflategate saga. The 2016 season started with Brady sitting out the New England Patriots’ first four games after dropping his courtroom fight following the NFL’s victory on appeal. It took the first half of last season for the league to prevail in court and secure the right to enforce its six-game suspension of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott under the sport’s personal conduct policy.