A day after the NFL upheld Tom Brady’s four-game suspension for his role in #Deflategate, the Patriots quarterback voiced his frustration with sthe league’s decision.
Brady, who will eventually finish his career as one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game, took to Facebook to air his grievances. Most of his response centered around the league’s assertion that he intentionally destroyed his cellphone (and the 10,000 text messages it contained) so the league’s investigators couldn’t examine it for emails and texts.
The NFL believes Brady was conspired with other New England team employees to deflate the footballs the Patriots used during their 2015 AFC title game victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Brady, though, said he disagreed “with [Tuesday’s] narrative surrounding my cellphone.”
“I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 AFTER my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under ANY circumstances … nor was I made aware at any time during Mr. [Ted] Wells’ investigation, that failing to subject my cell phone to investigation would result in ANY discipline.”
Deflating the footballs beyond the league’s legal limits would have made them easier for Brady to throw, and the NFL has claimed Brady not only knew about it but directed Patriots employees to take illegal action.
Brady obviously has a slightly different take on the matter, as he explains fully in this lengthy Facebook post from Wednesday morning.
Here’s what the NFL wrote in its news release Tuesday announcing the upheld suspension:
Mr. Brady testified that it is his practice to destroy (or to give to his assistant to destroy) his cellphone and SIM cards when he gets a new cellphone. Mr. Brady also testified that, based on his typical practice, he would have asked to have the existing cellphone destroyed at or about the same time that he began using his new cellphone. According to records provided by Mr. Brady, he began using a new cellphone — and based on what Mr. Brady and his counsel described as his ordinary practice, gave his old cellphone to his assistant to be destroyed — on or about March 6, 2015, the very day that he met with Mr. Wells and his team to be questioned about the tampering allegations.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a longtime ally of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, also went on a rampage against the league during a press conference Wednesday, and he included this gem of a comment.
https://vine.co/v/eX5jMYaJbQm
What does all of this mean? It likely means the Patriots and Brady are going to fight this by taking the issue to court. And if it’s actually resolved in the judicial system, we could have an interesting result.
Brady case obviously no longer just about PSI levels. Now power/role of commish & duty of players to cooperate with NFL investigations
— Gabe Feldman (@SportsLawGuy) July 29, 2015
Photo via Keith Allison/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)