The NFL offered to reduce New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game Deflategate suspension by “at least 50 percent” before commissioner Roger Goodell upheld the penalty, reports ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio. His response was that it’s his custom practice to destroy every cell phone and SIM card when he gets a new phone. Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells on that day.
Advertisement
Goodell mentioned exactly that in the conclusion of his appeal decision. Even if he and others are right to assert that he doesn’t have to give up personal property, Brady looks very guilty when he has his phone destroyed.
Commissioner Roger Goodell made the announcement on Tuesday (July 28). Not only did Tom destroy the phone and the 10,000 text messages on it, he hid that fact from the NFL for months!
The NFL came down hard on the Patriots, but singled out Brady for specific punishment saying he not only tarnished the league’s image but refused to cooperate with investigators.
You half-expected James Carville to pop out and say none of the texts were classified by the State Department and Colin Powell had a needle-wielding equipment manager and that voters don’t care about any of this because they believe Brady.
Shortly after the news was announced, Brady’s agent, Don Yee, released his own statement, in which he blasted the NFL for its decison. His suspension was handed down on May 11.
Goodell also fined the Patriots $1 million for the team’s role in the “Deflategate” scandal, and ordered it to surrender two draft choices, including the team’s coveted No. 1 pick in 2016.
What benefit does Brady derive from disclosing that in the appeal? Action in federal court would likely be accompanies by an injunction to allow Brady to play while is appeal is being heard.
“The NFL resorted to a nebulous standard of “general awareness” to predicate a legally unjustified punishment”, the union said, adding, “the NFL violated the plain meaning of the collective bargaining agreement”.
Goodell mentioned exactly that in the conclusion of his appeal decision. “Following the appeal hearing, Mr. Brady’s representatives provided a letter from his cellphone carrier confirming that the text messages sent from or received by the destroyed cellphone could no longer be received”.
Goodell concluded that Brady has “engaged in conduct detrimental to the integrity of, and public confidence in, the game of professional football”. All of the electronic information was ignored; we don’t know why.
The under-inflated footballs were used by the Patriots in the AFC title game in January, when New England handily beat the Indianapolis Colts 45-7.
Advertisement
Brady is considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, winning the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award three times. In its statement, the team said “We can not comprehend the league’s position in this matter”. Worse than he did when it was only “more probable than not” that the Patriots deflated footballs and that Brady was “generally aware” of the deflation. One of the league’s most influential men and a longtime adviser to Goodell, Kraft would, in essence, be confronting his fellow owners by backing Brady’s legal case.
