Summary: There is no doubt that Tom Brady was involved in deflating the footballs for the AFC Championship game, but the NFLPA will still fight his suspension, citing word usage in who the rules apply to.
The NFL will uphold Tom Brady’s four-game suspension from the DeflateGate scandal. In federal court, the NFL found enough evidence that Brady had knowledge that employees of the Patriots had deflated footballs before the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Brady had destroyed his cellphone, in what the NFL believes was an attempt to cover-up evidence showing his involvement.
The NFL Players Association, on behalf of Brady, will challenge the NFL’s decision. They argue that the NFL misapplied their own policy since the rules regarding the handling of equipment applies to personnel, not the athletes.
The Ted Wells investigation only states that it’s “more probable than not” that Brady had knowledge of the violations but is giving him a small amount of plausible deniability. Brady met with Wells on March 6th for the investigation. Brady destroyed his phone on that day or the days before, destroying all evidence on the text messages he sent between the Patriots employees John Jastremski and Jim McNally. The four months up to that point, he had exchanged over 10,000 text messages with the employees.
The NFL planned ahead and asked a New York federal court to confirm Brady’s suspension, in anticipation that Brady and the NFLPA would fight it. It is assumed that the NFLPA will try to take the case to court in Massachusetts or Minnesota because both states are Patriots and labor friendly.
The NFL has enough to deal with. Read these other legal matters involving NFL players:
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Source: http://www.sbnation.com/2015/7/28/9060673/tom-brady-suspension-appeal-federal-court-roger-goodell
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