FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The first indication that Tom Brady was considering no longer pursuing the legal process came in the last 24 hours, when someone close to his legal team said the following to me: "As much as the court's decision to deny his appeal was expected, it was still demoralizing."

That was the first time in recent memory that anyone connected to Brady gave me a sense that he might stop the fight against his four-game Deflategate suspension. Another person close to the New England Patriots quarterback said he's simply ready to move on to football.

That was reflected in part in Brady's statement on Facebook. "It has been a challenging 18 months," he wrote. It was also reflected in owner Robert Kraft’s statement in which he said, “This entire process has indelibly taken a toll on our organization, our fans and most importantly, Tom Brady.”

So this begins the process of closure for Brady, who can still practice with the team throughout training camp and the preseason. Once the regular season begins, he is not allowed to be at the team's facility. As someone who lives the game of football, Brady will surely find those four weeks agonizing.

Brady's decision simplifies things for Bill Belichick in terms of how he can approach training camp and the preseason with quarterback repetitions.

Knowing that Jimmy Garoppolo will be called upon for the first four games of the season, Belichick can now manage repetitions in a way that best prepares Garoppolo and gets the entire team ready to rally around him. But while Garoppolo might take more No. 1 reps this year than he did in 2015, Brady will probably still see some top repetitions, as training camp is when a foundation is built for the entire season.

One has to go back to the 2001 season, Brady's second in the NFL, for the last time he wasn't consistently first in line at practice. That was the year he was behind starter Drew Bledsoe and ultimately leapfrogged fellow backup Damon Huard into the No. 2 spot.

While Brady is ending his involvement in the legal process, the NFL Players Association is still expected to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's power, according to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Thus, while Brady is moving on, the overall fight isn't over, and we haven't heard the last of Deflategate.