New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady may or may not - Stephen A. Smith, the ESPN talking head who broke the report, admitted that he really "didn't know" if it had actually happened - have destroyed his cellphone in the wake of the Deflategate scandal and the findings of the Wells Report. Tuesday was the first time anyone in the general NFL-viewing public had heard such a report and, to hear at least one unnamed Patriots source tell it, it was the first they'd heard of it as well. In the wake of Smith's report, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports spoke with a Pats source who said, "as far as I know, that didn't happen," before adding that Smith's claim was, indeed, the first time he'd ever heard of the potential destruction of Brady's cellphone.
Of course, considering the fact that destroying the cellphone wouldn't actually erase any potentially incriminating phone calls, voicemails or text messages, there's really nothing to be gained on Brady's part from actually destroying the phone. Meaning that if the phone really was obliterated by Brady or someone trying to protect him, they were likely unaware of that fact. There's no denying though, that if the phone was smashed into a million tiny, frustrated little pieces, it would be a bad look for Brady - cellphones are often cracked and broken and oftentimes even smashed, but destroyed? Rarely.
A full-on destruction of Brady's cellphone would be entirely circumstantial as evidence, but it would paint a potentially pretty awkward picture, especially in the media, of a future Hall of Famer panicking over the possible implosion of his squeaky-clean image and doing the first and simplest thing he can think of in order to cover his tracks. It wouldn't mean anything - again, the messages and calls exist outside the actual physical phone - but it would certainly seem questionable and could even be construed as an admission of guilt.
Then again, if the report isn't accurate, then this all means nothing and Stephen A. Smith can go back to being the biggest blowhard on television.
