With both sides of the Tom Brady appeal keeping mostly quiet about what did or didn’t happen at last week’s full-day hearing, a question remains regarding whether Brady accepted Commissioner Roger Goodell’s indirect invitation to give to Goodell what Brady refused to give to investigator Ted Wells: The contents of Brady’s phone.
“[H]e refused to permit us to review electronic data from his telephone or other instruments,” Wells said during a May 12 media conference call. “Most of the key evidence in this case as in most cases comes from people’s cell phones and he refused to let us review the phone. And I want to be crystal clear, I told Mr. Brady and his agents I was willing to not take possession of the phone, I don’t want to see any private communications, I said, ‘You keep the phone, you give me documents that are responsive to this investigation and I will take your word for it’ and they still refused.”
Twice since then, Goodell has invited Brady to provide “new information,” without mentioning the phone.
“As I have said publicly, I very much look forward to hearing from Mr. Brady and to considering any new information or evidence that he may bring to my attention,” Goodell said in the letter to the NFL Players Association explaining his decision not to step aside from the appeal.
It’s not known what, if anything, Brady gave to Goodell either before or during the appeal hearing. As one source with knowledge of the situation explained it to PFT, Brady likely did not surrender enough to prompt Goodell to conclude that Brady fully cooperated with the investigation on a belated basis.
But “full cooperation” and “reasonable cooperation” are two different things. Brady had a duty only to reasonably cooperate. He and Goodell may disagree on whether Brady’s cooperation was reasonable.
Ultimately, the question of whether Brady reasonably cooperated could be one for a federal court to consider, as part of the broader question of whether the outcome of his appeal hearing should be overturned.