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Brady Silent at Charity Event

Tom Brady in happier times.

Tom Brady made his first public appearance since his four-game suspension was handed down by the NFL in the DeflateGate scandal, but except for a few kids at the 16th Annual Best Buddies Challenge, nobody got to talk to the All-Pro Deflator. Brady declined all interview requests from the media.

Best Buddies is a charity for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Joining Brady at the event Friday night were fellow Patriots Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola as well as former Pats Scott Zolak and Dan Koppen along with around 1,000 fans at Harvard Stadium.

Brady and the NFLPA have appealed his suspension. Roger Goodell has appointed himself arbitrator of the appeal and will hear Brady’s explanation of how all 12 of the Patriots’ footballs were magically deflated to his specifications on June 23.

Michael Bennett AWOL at OTAs

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett wants a new deal. There’s only one problem with that. He just signed a new deal last season. In fact, it was just over a year ago that Bennett signed a four-year, $28.5 million contract with $16 million guaranteed. It was a deal he liked, one he felt he deserved, but now he’s changed his mind.

“(I want the contract to be) Somewhere near the top seven at my position, top eight at my position,” Bennett said to a local newspaper. “Not a lot of guys play inside and out [defensive end and defensive tackle]. Not a lot of guys do what I do. So I feel like I should be somewhere near there.”

Bennett’s current contract has him as the 14th highest paid 4-3 defensive end in the league, but anyone would be hard-pressed to argue that he deserves even that. Last year Bennett had 38 tackles, seven sacks and one forced fumble. Decent numbers, but nowhere near elite numbers.

Bennett has not attended any Seahawks organized team activities even though the team has made it clear it will not renegotiate his contract. Why should they?

Bennett has never had a double-digit sack season and never recorded more than 41 tackles. His best year wasn’t even with the Seahawks, but with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012 when he hit that 41 tackle mark and nine sacks.

Last season’s sack total had Bennett tied for 36th place on the NFL’s list, a good 15 sacks behind league-leader Justin Houston who had 22. Mario Williams, playing in the same 4-3 scheme that Bennett plays in, had 14.5 for the Buffalo Bills, more than double Bennett’s production.

Brandon Marshall gets contract upgrade with Jets

The New York Jets got the wide receiver they wanted in the fold with a trade and now they’ve made sure he’s happy to be there. The Jets have given Marshall a raise before he’s even caught a pass for them, upping his salary from $24.3 million over the next three seasons to $26 million.

Marshall’s base salary for 2015-16 is now $9 million, up from $7.5 million in the previous contract he signed with the Chicago Bears. He gets a raise to $9.5 million in 2016.

The Jets acquired Marshall from the Bears with a fifth-round pick after an injury-shortened 2014 campaign. Last year was the first time since his rookie year that Marshall didn’t surpass 1,000 yards. Playing in just 13 games, Marshall still caught 61 passes for 721 yards and eight touchdowns. Marshall has surpassed more than 100 catches in a season five times in his nine-year career and passed 1,200 yards five times with three double-digit touchdown seasons.

Uniform upgrades on display at NFLPA Rookie Premier

Rookies from around the league for the NFLPA Rookie Premier event in Los Angeles Saturday, showing off their uniforms and numbers as well as a few upgrades.

Like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ new glow-in-the-dark numbers.

Other players like the Indianapolis colts Phillip Dorsett had to deal with the small problem of being given the wrong jersey number.

According to Dorsett, he’ll be wearing No. 15 this season.

The rookies posed for action shots and performed a little for the cameras. Here’s a slow-motion video of New Orleans Saints quarterback Garrett Grayson throwing a pass.

And here’s Bears rookie Kevin White making a one-handed catch.

 

Written by Adam Greene

Adam Greene is a writer and photographer based out of East Tennessee. His work has appeared on Cracked.com, in USA Today, the Associated Press, the Chicago Cubs Vineline Magazine, AskMen.com and many other publications.

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