The status of Tom Brady's phone is irrelevant to the pending court case, but entirely relevant to how the New England Patriots quarterback is perceived in the court of public opinion. While Ted Wells and company were unable to dig up Brady's phone back in May, someone notified the league that Brady's phone was "destroyed" on June 18th, just a few days prior to Brady's appeal on June 23rd.
But who would reveal such potentially damaging information?
On @nflnetwork just now, @judybattista reported that @NFL learned Brady had destroyed phone in June 18 letter from agent Don Yee...
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) July 28, 2015
It turns out that Brady's own agent, Don Yee, was the one who notified the league about the quarterback's phone in a letter to the NFL.
I have no idea what Don was trying to get out of this information, other than putting all of the cards on the table for full transparency. The phone is irrelevant, so why provide the league with another piece of information to sway the public perception?
Of course in his verdict, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell refrains from reporting that Brady's camp brought the broken phone to his attention. This falls in line with the stories that were leaked by the league during the course of the investigation.
Oh, the footballs were taken into the bathroom? The Patriots provided the footage.
Oh, the Patriots tried to introduce illegal footballs into the game? The officials had stolen the footballs.
Oh, the texts from the staff members? The team willingly provided the data.
The NFL continues to portray any action by Brady and the Patriots as devious and uncooperative, ignoring the fact that the league has absolutely nothing without New England's cooperation.
But if anyone was wondering how the league found out about the phone, it was because Brady's camp told them, and handed them the petard with which they were hoisted.