Patriots' Tom Brady Suspended 4 Games for 'Deflategate'

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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been suspended four games for using under-inflated footballs last season, the NFL announced Monday.

The team will also be fined $1 million and will forfeit a 2016 first-round pick and 2017 fourth-round selection in the NFL Draft.

The suspension and fines are as a result of the Deflategate controversy that followed the Patriots’ AFC Championship victory over the Indianapolis Colts in January.

The NFL investigated the team after its 45-7 win, and Brady denied tampering with the balls or having any knowledge of wrongdoing.

Last week, independent investigator Ted Wells released a report saying it was “more probable than not” that Brady was aware of Patriots’ game balls being used against league rules in the AFC Championship Game against the Colts.

>>> See also: Ted Wells Report on Patriots Deflategate Released

The report concluded that it is likely that locker room attendant Jim McNally and Patriots equipment assistant John Jastremski participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee. In addition, the report says that quarterback Tom Brady was generally aware, at least, of the pair’s activities to release air from the game balls.

After calling the report a disappointment, Tom Brady’s agent Don Yee suggested that the Colts may have conducted, or attempted to conduct, a sting operation.

“What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game? This suggests it may be more probable than not that the league cooperated with the Colts in perpetrating a sting operation,” Yee said.

>>> See also: Tom Brady’s Agent Responds to Deflategate Report

Don Yee spoke Monday following the announcement of Brady’s suspension.

“We will appeal, and if the hearing officer is completely independent and neutral, I am very confident the Wells Report will be exposed as an incredibly frail exercise in fact-finding and logic,” he said. “The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis.”

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said last week that his team did not violate NFL rules. He initially indicated that the franchise would accept any punishment from the league, but said the penalties issued by the NFL on May 11 “far exceeded any reasonable expectation,” stating that the league’s actions were based on circumstantial evidence.

“We recognize our fans’ concerns regarding the NFL’s penalties and share in their disappointment in how this one-sided investigation was handled,” Kraft said. “Tom Brady has our unconditional support. Our belief in him has not wavered.”

Photo Credit: WHDH, 7-News