Months after the “deflategate” controversy began the NFL announced on Monday that it has suspended New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady without pay for the first four games of the 2015 regular season. Additionally, the NFL fined the Patriots $1 million, and stripped them of their 2016 first-round draft pick and 2017 fourth-round draft pick.
John Jastremski and James McNally, the two key employees cited in the Wells report for their role in the controversy, also have been “indefinitely suspended without pay,” the league said.
In a letter from the NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent said the quarterback hindered the investigation by refusing to “cooperate fully and candidly” with the investigators.
Here is a letter from the NFL tom Brady:
With respect to your particular involvement, the report established that there is substantial and credible evidence to conclude you were at least generally aware of the actions of the Patriots’ employees involved in the deflation of the footballs and that it was unlikely that their actions were done without your knowledge. Moreover, the report documents your failure to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation, including by refusing to produce any relevant electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.), despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information, and by providing testimony that the report concludes was not plausible and contradicted by other evidence.
Your actions as set forth in the report clearly constitute conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the game of professional football. The integrity of the game is of paramount importance to everyone in our league, and requires unshakable commitment to fairness and compliance with the playing rules. Each player, no matter how accomplished and otherwise respected, has an obligation to comply with the rules and must be held accountable for his actions when those rules are violated and the public’s confidence in the game is called into question.
Brady’s representative Don Yee, said in a statement: “The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis. In my opinion, this outcome was pre-determined; there was no fairness in the Wells investigation whatsoever. There is no evidence that Tom directed footballs be set at pressures below the allowable limits.”