Report: Tom Brady Could Face One-Year Suspension for Deflategate Involvement
Photo via AP
The Wells Report detailing the NFL’s investigation into the Deflategate scandal suggests the Patriots likely engaged in a “deliberate effort to circumvent the rules,” calling out two team employees, Jim McNally and John Jastremski. Released Wednesday, the 243-page report also implicates Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, claiming it’s “more probable than not” that the reigning Super Bowl MVP “was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls.”
“It is unlikely that an equipment assistant and a locker room attendant would deflate game balls without Brady’s knowledge and approval,” the report says.
A league source told Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald that Brady could face a suspension from the NFL in connection to McNally and Jastremski’s alleged wrongdoing. “Everything is being studied, everything is being considered,” even a one-year suspension, the anonymous source told Salguero.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter also weighed in:
NFL considering discipline for Tom Brady, locker attendant Jim McNally, equipment asst John Jastremski, per source close to investigation.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 6, 2015
Some "more-probable-than-not", opening-night starters in Foxboro:
NE QB: Jimmy Garoppolo
NE RB: Jonas Gray
PITT RB: DeAngelo Williams.— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 7, 2015
Brady’s agent, Don Yee, called the Wells Report a “significant and terrible disappointment.” From his statement:
It was clear to me the investigators had limited understanding of professional football. For reasons unknown, the Wells report omitted nearly all of Tom’s testimony, most of which was critical because it would have provided this report with the context that it lacks. Mr. Wells promised back in January to share the results of this investigation publicly, so why not follow through and make public all of the information gathered and let the public draw its own conclusions? This report contains significant and tragic flaws, and it is common knowledge in the legal industry that reports like this generally are written for the benefit of the purchaser.
Meanwhile, former CBS Sports analyst Shannon Sharpe took to Twitter upon the report’s release and compared Patriots coach Bill Belichick to New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, who received a yearlong ban for allegedly covering up his team’s practice of doling out bounties for injuring opposing players.
Brady must be suspended for minimum of 2-4 gms, Belichick gets 1 yr and tm loses 1st rd draft pick 2016-17. Tm gets fined the max.
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) May 6, 2015
Grab some marshmallows, and expect a bonfire of hot takes.
