Tom Brady May Face Another Suspension Over Deflategate

NEW YORK, March 4. 2016- The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan will decide whether or not over turn Tom Brady’s 4-game suspension from the 2015-16 season.

Brady Faces Possible Suspension As NFL Appeals Previous Annulment

Brady was initially suspended for a quarter of last season for his part in the Deflategate scandal, in which he allegedly had knowledge or even encouraged the deflation of game balls in the Patriots’ 45-7 victory over the Colts in the 2014-14 AFC Championship Game. The Patriots would go on to win Super Bowl XLIX against the Seahawks 28-24.

The NFL based most of it’s appeal on the facts that Brady destroyed his cell phone with over 10,000 messages. Judge Barrington D. Parker said that the destruction of the quarterback’s cell phone raised the case, “from air in a football to compromising the integrity of a proceeding that the commissioner had convened.”

NFL Players Association attorney Jeffrey Kessler said that no one ever asked for the phone.

“An adjudicator looking at these facts, it seems to me, might conclude that the cellphone had incriminating information on it and that, in the teeth of an investigation, it was deliberately destroyed,” Parker said. “So why couldn’t the commissioner suspend Mr. Brady for that conduct alone?”

The hearing wasn’t all one sided though, specifically on why NFL commissioner Roger Goodell decided that he himself should be the arbitrator and why he recorded findings that were not in the report put together by the private investigator hired by the league.

Judge Parker also acknowledged that Goodell’s power in the case and NFL make his scenario different than most of the other arbitration cases heard by the court.

Kessler may have actually been the one who did the most to strengthen Brady’s odds at a suspension.  He repeatedly told the Judges that Goodell has every right to punish a player who interfered with an investigation and/or engaged in detrimental conduct.

While Parker did seem a bit confused on the benefits of a deflated football and why the punishment was so severe, he did say that Brady’s explanation for the cell phone destruction made no sense. So it’s possible that Brady could be suspended for his actions outside of the lines and off the field.

It is unknown when a decision will be reached, it could take a few weeks to a couple of months.

Article by Nick Vigliotti