Why was Tom Brady ruling only upheld after new information?

The new information that was revealed on Tuesday when the NFL announced that it has upheld Tom Brady’s four-game suspension is quite the bombshell — Brady destroyed a cell phone on or around the day he was supposed to meet with Ted Wells to discuss Deflategate.

We knew all along that Brady refused to turn over his cell phone. It seems obvious that Brady’s refusal to fully cooperate with the investigation was a bigger issue than his alleged involvement in letting air out of game balls. The base fine for tampering with game balls is $50,000, so the four-game suspension had to have been the result of Brady’s lack of cooperation rather than him being “generally aware” equipment managers did something wrong.

So when the NFL learned on June 18 that Brady had destroyed his phone, why wasn’t the suspension increased? NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said all along that he was willing to take new information into consideration. Didn’t that particular piece of new information make Brady look even worse?

In a certain sense, Goodell upholding the suspension in the wake of the new information is an admission that the initial suspension was too harsh. Some would argue that a four-game suspension is too harsh regardless, especially when you consider that Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Greg Hardy just had his suspension reduced to four games for allegedly choking his girlfriend.

Whatever the case, the fact that Brady destroyed his phone is a terrible look. And the excuse he gave for why he destroyed it looks even worse. Whether that will be an issue for a federal judge remains to be seen.