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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has upheld Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension for violating the league's policy on integrity of the game, the league announced Tuesday.

As NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal reminded readers, Brady was suspended four games in May after footballs used by the Patriots during the AFC Championship Game against the Colts were found to be inflated under the minimum level prescribed by the league.

Along with the NFL Players Association, Brady challenged his penalty and testified before Goodell at an appeal hearing last month.

The four-time Super Bowl winner is eligible to play Week 6 in Indianapolis against the Colts. Jimmy Garoppolo, who played sparingly as Brady's backup last year, is expected to start the team's first four games of the season. Brady remains eligible for training camp and the preseason.

Brady was suspended on May 11 after a report by Ted Wells, an investigator contracted by the league, asserted Brady's connection to the deflation of footballs used in the AFC Championship Game, which the Patriots won, 45-7.

Wells did not allege that Brady himself improperly handled the footballs, but the investigator wrote that he believed Brady was "at least generally aware" of the alleged involvement of Patriots staff in deflating the footballs.

Wells also noted that Brady did not fully cooperate with his requests during the investigation.

Indeed, in the opinion informing Brady that his appeal had been denied, Goodell emphasized important new information disclosed by Brady and his representatives in connection with the hearing.

On or shortly before March 6, the day that Brady met with Wells and his colleagues, Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed. He did so even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone.

During the four months that the cell phone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device.

The destruction of the cell phone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information from Brady.

Based on the Wells Report and the evidence presented at the hearing, Goodell concluded in his decision that Brady was aware of, and took steps to support, the actions of other team employees to deflate game footballs below the levels called for by the NFL's Official Playing Rules.

The commissioner found that Brady’s deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs.

As Profootballtalk.com's Michael David Smith notes, for Brady, the next step is either to accept Goodell’s ruling or to take the NFL to court. A lawsuit appears likely.

I'll continue to follow up as the legal aspect comes into focus.