NFL: Brady Trashed His Cellphone to Avoid Investigation

Tom Brady allegedly destroyed his cellphone during the NFL’s investigation of “Deflategate.”

The NFL alleges Brady’s “general awareness” of a scheme to deflate footballs before the AFC Championship Game. The league has accused Brady of willful obstruction of its investigation, and rejected his claims that he had recently purchased a new cellphone and regularly destroys old cellphones and SIM cards.

Brady’s agent Don Yee counters that “we presented the Commissioner with an unprecedented amount of electronic data, all of which is incontrovertible. I do not think that any private citizen would have agreed to provide anyone with the amount of information that Tom was willing to reveal to the Commissioner. Tom was completely transparent. All of the electronic information was ignored; we don’t know why. The extent to which Tom opened up his private life to the Commissioner will become clear in the coming days.”

It was no shock to see Goodell uphold his own judgment on Brady’s suspension, though it certainly surprised that Goodell dropped new details of the case in order to further convict Brady in the court of public opinion. Brady’s phone destruction apparently occurred either the day he was scheduled to meet with NFL investigators or the prior day.

Brady will participate in the New England Patriots training camp. He is not barred from doing so by the four-game suspension upheld by Goodell. The case itself will now wend itself through the court system.