Following the upholding of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension, a close friend of his shared via text to ESPN how routinely it is for the multiple-time Super Bowl winner to change his phone.
One of the factors that National Football League (NFL) commissioner Roger Goodell considered in his decision to uphold the suspension for the violation of the league's integrity of the game policy is the destroying of Brady's phone that was used from 2014 until Ted Wells' initial investigation about the Deflategate scandal started.
Goodell wrote in his final decision that Brady instructed his assistant to destroy the phone which has more than 10,000 text messages that can no longer be retrieved during the investigation.
Meanwhile, Brady shared in a statement following the upholding of his suspension that he replaced his phone when his attorneys told the NFL that it would not be subject to any investigation.
The 36-year-old quarterback also said he was unaware that being unable to present his phone would get him disciplined.
Aaron Shea, Brady's close friend and former Michigan teammate, said the star quarterback changes his phone every couple of years and has been doing so since winning his first Super Bowl.
"Is that the same as destroying his phone? I don't know. But I know he gets rid of his phone regularly," Shea told ESPN via text.
Shea said that after Brady won his first Super Bowl in 2001, he changed his phone twice during the offseason following the victory and that has been a practice since to keep a private life.
He added that every time Brady changes his phone, he and a small group of close friends are being informed of his new number.
Shea believed that perhaps Brady changed his phone because during the investigation, Wells presented Brady's number leaving the last four digits disclosed.
As he knows Brady, Shea thinks his close friend and the godfather of his son did not cheat.
Brady and the Patriots were accused of using deflated footballs in their American Football Conference (AFC) Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts last January.
Along with Brady's suspension, the Patriots also were fined $1 million and two future draft picks in the next two years were taken away from them.
