The NFL officially denied Tom Brady's suspension appeal Tuesday, upholding the four-game ban imposed on the New England Patriots quarterback for his role in the "Deflategate" scandal stemming from this year's AFC Championship Game.
The league's official statement on commissioner Roger Goodell's ruling states that Brady had his cellphone destroyed prior to meeting with independent investigator Ted Wells:
In the opinion informing Brady that his appeal had been denied, Commissioner Goodell emphasized important new information disclosed by Brady and his representatives in connection with the hearing.
On or shortly before March 6, the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells and his colleagues, Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed. He did so even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone. During the four months that the cell phone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device. The destruction of the cell phone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information from Brady.
The NFL, based on both that evidence and the case presented in the Wells Report, thus concluded that Brady indeed participated in a scheme to alter the inflation level of footballs prior to the Patriots' conference title victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Based on the Wells Report and the evidence presented at the hearing, Commissioner Goodell concluded in his decision that Brady was aware of, and took steps to support, the actions of other team employees to deflate game footballs below the levels called for by the NFL's Official Playing Rules. The commissioner found that Brady’s deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs.
Goodell's ruling tentatively has the future Hall-of-Famer in line to miss the first month of the regular season, before being eligible to return for New England's Oct. 18 game against the Colts, but the NFLPA and Brady's representation certainly aren't about to accept the discipline without a fight.
As the football world collectively awaited a decision on Brady's fate, reports surfaced over the past month suggesting that the players association would challenge any suspension in court.
"I hope they do the right thing, I hope they exonerate Tom and overturn his suspension, but if they don’t we’re prepared to take the next step, whatever that next step might be," NFLPA president Eric Winston told Pro Football Talk on July 22.
The union, soon after receiving clearance from Brady, was quick to release a statement indicating it would indeed appeal the league's ruling on his behalf.
The fact that the NFL would resort to basing a suspension on a smoke screen of irrelevant text messages instead of admitting that they have all of the phone records they asked for is a new low, even for them, but it does nothing to correct their errors.
The NFLPA will appeal this outrageous decision on behalf of Tom Brady.
The NFL, too, has seemingly begun its preparation for such a case to unfold, asking a federal court in Manhattan to confirm the suspension, according to Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg Sports.
While the impact of such a move remains to be seen, the NFLPA can be expected to file its appeal under jurisdiction of Judge David Doty in Minnesota, where rulings have been favorable to players in past cases.
Given the possibility that the impending litigation will extend well into the regular season, Brady could conceivably seek an injunction that allows him to return to the field until a decision is made by the court system.
Either way, despite an official appeal ruling now having arrived at long last, the battle between the quarterback and the NFL appears to have just begun.
For now, second-year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is slated to take over under center in the three-time Super Bowl MVP's absence, looking to keep the Patriots competitive during a difficult early-season slate of games against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Dallas Cowboys.
