It doesn't look good for Tom Brady as the NFL decided to uphold his four game suspension and revealing that he destroyed his phone prior to his meeting with Ted Wells.
After a week of reports tracking the settlement talks between the NFLPA and NFL, it's unclear how close the sides may have been to a possible deal.
Ben Volin believes it would've been in Brady's best interest to take a deal.
"I think he should've bit his lip and taken the best deal he could have gotten," said Volin. "Once this comes out with the smashed cell phone, look, they know what he did and going to court is going to be risky. It's an uphill battle to win in court. One or two games, just bite your lip and take it… He was his own worst enemy in this appeal."
John Tomase wonders why the NFL didn't take a deal.
"All you want is to be able to say, 'Tom Brady did this. We punished him. There was a punishment accepted,'" said Tomase. "You had that on the table, everybody gets what they want. Brady, he's able to get out of it and that's it, you're not going to court. The NFL gets to say, 'he did it, he accepts the blame.' Why not take the deal if you're the NFL?"