Tom Brady destroyed his phone?

[Mr. Scot]

Per Stephen A Smith. to make sure the NFL couldn't see his texts.

Stephen A Smith hears Tom Brady destroyed his phone

 

Smith claimed today that he has a source telling him that the NFL is likely to uphold Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, and that Brady destroyed his cell phone to hide text messages to the Patriots’ ball boys.

“I’m hearing that Tom Brady actually destroyed his cell phone,” Smith said on the air.

Smith later clarified that he was just “hearing” that Brady destroyed his phone, and can’t confirm that for certain.

“I don’t know,” Smith added.

Regarding the first part of Smith’s report, that the NFL is “likely” to uphold Brady’s suspension, that comes across as little more than a guess. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell either will or won’t uphold Brady’s suspension, and claiming that he’s “likely” to go either way at this point doesn’t mean much. It especially doesn’t mean much coming from someone like Smith, who has no history of scoops coming out of the league office. If ESPN’s respected veteran NFL reporters say they’re “hearing” what Goodell is “likely” to do, we can reasonably surmise that they’re “hearing” it from well-placed sources within the league office. Even if such a report turned out to be wrong, if it came from a respected reporter it was probably based on contact with sources who are in a position to know what they’re talking about. When it comes from Smith, it doesn’t mean anything.

The part about Brady destroying his cell phone — the part that Smith acknowledges he doesn’t “know” — just sounds silly. Brady has already refused to hand over his phone to the Ted Wells investigation. It’s not like Wells has the power to send the cops into Brady’s house to execute a search warrant and seize his phone. Why would Brady need to destroy it? And even if Brady did destroy his physical phone, that wouldn’t make the records of any texts or calls to the Patriots’ ball boys disappear. The “report” doesn’t make a lot of sense, and if the “reporter” “hears” something like that, he needs to express more skepticism and ask his “source” to clarify where this “information” is coming from.

But that’s not how Smith operates. If he “hears” something that will get us all talking, he’ll repeat it on the air. And now we’re talking about Stephen A. Smith. Mission accomplished.

[TheRed]

Eh, Stephen A Smith is about the last guy I would trust for reliable information.

[L-TownCat]

No shock here.  He's a Belicheat disciple. 

[Jeremy Igo]

because the only place texts are stored are on phones......  

[Paintballr]

I mean...if you destroy your phone doesn't mean they can't get your texts....

[Plewis]

Nothing to see here. Stephen A is an idiot.

[Batman]

If true Brady is stupid.

[LinvilleGorge]

because the only place texts are stored are on phones......  

A warrant is required to get those records from a carrier provider and NFL can't get a warrant.  Then again, a warrant would also be required to force Brady to hand over that phone.  He was probably more concerned with it getting stolen, lost, misplaced, etc.

If I was him, honestly I probably would've done the same thing.

But, theres a really good chamce that SAS is just full of poo here, per usual.

[Mr. Scot]

because the only place texts are stored are on phones......  

It's actually very difficult to get texts from cell providers. The sheer volume of data is too high to keep them on servers for very long.

That said, I dont give this story much credence.

[t96]

I think he had some dirty pictures of him with some of the big guys in the locker room.

[PandaPancake]

It's actually very difficult to get texts from cell providers. The sheer volume of data is too high to keep them on servers for very long.

That said, I dont give this story much credence.

NSA has them. 

[Riverboat Ron]

Goodell just wanted some wanking material to deflate his balls.

[pantherclaw]

The texts still exists,  text take very little storage space. 

Now actually getting from the service provider is not easy.

[CoastalCat]

Per Stephen A Smith. to make sure the NFL couldn't see his texts.

Stephen A Smith hears Tom Brady destroyed his phone

Weren't they more requesting access to phone company records, not the actual phone? If it was just the phone, he could have just deleted the texts.