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Fantasy football owners now know what we're dealing with. ... The NFL announced Monday that Tom Brady has been suspended without pay for four games for violating the NFL policy on the integrity of the game. The Super Bowl winning QB becomes the highest-profile player ever suspended in the 96-year history of the NFL.

This news comes less than a week after independent investigator Ted Wells found that it was "more probable than not" that Brady was "at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities" regarding the deflation of Patriots game balls used in the AFC Championship Game against the Colts.

The team will also be fined $1 million and will forfeit a 2016 first rounder and 2017 fourth-round selection in the NFL Draft.

As New York Daily News staffer Gary Myers suggested last week, "the NFL is convinced that connecting all the dots of the evidence supplied by Wells leads to one conclusion: Brady cheated."

Still, the league was careful to note that the punishment was for the violation itself but also the “failure to cooperate in the subsequent investigation,” and that Brady’s suspension was for “conduct detrimental to the integrity of the NFL.”

Brady may participate in the offseason, training camp and preseason games, but pending appeal, will miss games against the Steelers, Bills, Jaguars and Cowboys.

“We reached these decisions after extensive discussion with (NFL executive vice president) Troy Vincent and many others,” commissioner Roger Goodell said in the league’s statement. “We relied on the critical importance of protecting the integrity of the game and the thoroughness and independence of the Wells report.”

That’s a huge penalty, and one which will certainly spark appeals.

In the letter from Vincent, it was spelled out that Brady’s actions and inactions were taken seriously.

“Your actions as set forth in the report clearly constitute conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the game of professional football. The integrity of the game is of paramount importance to everyone in our league, and requires unshakable commitment to fairness and compliance with the playing rules. Each player, no matter how accomplished and otherwise respected, has an obligation to comply with the rules and must be held accountable for his actions when those rules are violated and the public’s confidence in the game is called into question.”

Assuming the suspension stands, last year's second-round pick Jimmy Garoppolo is expected get the starting nod against the Pittsburgh Steelers when the season gets underway September 10. Brady will return when the Patriots take on the Colts in Week 6. These will be the first games that Brady has missed since he tore his ACL in Week 1 of the 2008 season.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft commented on the matter last week, saying his team "had done nothing inappropriate in this process or in violation of the NFL rules." He indicated, however, the team would accept any punishment the league hands down.

The story first became a national topic in the build up to the Super Bowl. Both Brady and head coach Bill Belichick vehemently denied doing anything wrong to the footballs before the game against the Colts.

"At no time was there any intent -- whatsoever -- to try and compromise the integrity of the game," Belichick said back in January. "I believe now, 100 percent, that I have personally and (the Patriots) have absolutely followed every rule to the letter," he added.

Stay tuned. We'll follow up as developments warrant.