I’m from New England, and although I’m not a huge football fan, I do like the New England Patriots and Tom Brady. And I’ve also done investigations professionally. And unfortunately I must say:

Tom Brady is as guilty as sin. He was clearly a part of “Deflategate.” Although participating in deflating footballs is not a major offense, denying it and obstructing the investigation is.

While Brady might be in the “habit” of destroying his cell phones — I can understand why a celebrity might want to destroy their old cell phones — you don’t destroy your cell phone with its 10,000 messages when you know that it is a crucial piece of evidence in an ongoing investigation.

On top of which, Brady could have instructed his cell phone carrier to release the text messages to the NFL, since the League apparently does not have subpoena power to get them on their own.

Sorry Tom, you’re not winning this one.