I am getting tired of the argument that Brady won't sue because he won't want to give up his phone

I keep hearing people on the radio say that Brady will never sue the NFL because he doesn't want to give up his cell phone and other personal information. People are continually confusing a defamation case with the NFLPA and Brady filing suit that the NFL violated the CBA in Brady's punishment and appeal process. The NFLPA has already laid out the points that they will be using to file a lawsuit to overturn any Goodell appeal decision and none of them are about the evidence.

The NFLPA laid out the points they will be challenging in federal court. They are:

• The CBA does not allow Troy Vincent to give out penalties.
• Based on the finding of the Wells report, Brady's punishment is inconsistent with prior punishments for similar violations
• Goodell will be called as a witness in the appeal which means he cannot be an independent arbitrator because of a conflict of interest

I know they have stated that there is insufficient evidence in the Wells report to convict Brady, but I cannot see them using that in court because it is unlikely a federal judge would overturn the ruling based on that. And even then, I don't think a federal judge would hear new evidence on the Wells report and just whether the Wells report itself sets the bar for the punishment.

The NFLPA and Kessler will still most likely attack the violation of the CBA and the inconsistency of punishments and not the validity of the Wells report in a federal case. That means the judge will only hear arguments on those points. There is no possible reason that the NFL could subpoena Brady's cell phone in that case.

Now if Brady files a defamation case, his cell phone is definitely on the table. That said, I still don't think that is a deal breaker for Brady. Don Yee told Pat Kirwan that he thinks Brady would turn over his cell phone in the appeal.

Also, what people are ignoring is that Brady will be able subpoena phone and email records from league personnel which could be more damaging to the NFL than what Brady gives up to Brady. What if discovery in a defamation case finds that Mike Kensil was the leak for the 2 PSI story by Chris Mortensen? Or that the email communications before the AFCCG shows a sting operation and Wells ignored it? I think the NFL may be more worried about a defamation case than Brady.

I think this is a given that Brady and the NFLPA takes this to court. Brady has nothing to lose. He won't have to give up his cell phone on a challenge of CBA violations and inconsistent punishments. The NFL will have no grounds to get that information in a case like that. Now, whether he will file a defamation suit is up in the air.

As a minor aside, the appeal notice didn't rule out the possibility of using other arguments, such as insufficient evidence.

Yee flat-out said that the reason Brady didn't turn over his phone was because they didn't trust Wells, but that he would have "slid it over the table" for Goodell.

If you look untrustworthy next to Roger Goodell, you truly suck.

Anyway, there's nothing deflatey on Brady's phone.

Kraft is a punk. But yeah I agree with you

Watch Kraft be appointed the neutral arbitrator and uphold the punishment for the good of the league.

Rob0729 said:

Now if Brady files a defamation case, his cell phone is definitely on the table. That said, I still don't think that is a deal breaker for Brady. Don Yee told Pat Kirwan that he thinks Brady would turn over his cell phone in the appeal.

Also, what people are ignoring is that Brady will be able subpoena phone and email records from league personnel which could be more damaging to the NFL than what Brady gives up to Brady. What if discovery in a defamation case finds that Mike Kensil was the leak for the 2 PSI story by Chris Mortensen? Or that the email communications before the AFCCG shows a sting operation and Wells ignored it? I think the NFL may be more worried about a defamation case than Brady.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what the "Brady doesn't want his cell phone in court" crowd doesn't understand: The league will also be asked to turn over their records on this matter. From the Wells report, we've already seen texts from Brady that were on Jastremski's phone. We haven't seen anything from the league. I agree that the NFL probably has more to be worried about if this ends up in court than Brady.

Then again, every time we think there will be a positive development in this story, it turns out to be a punch in the gut, so who knows?