You would think that the NFL news cycle would be slowing down and that fans could relax a little bit and have some peace and quiet to do their research on the new players their favorite team has drafted.
That peace was certainly broken with today's release of the Wells report.
After the "deflategate" scandal talk that came after the New England Patriots dismantled the Indianapolis Colts on their way to a 45-7 victory, stories began to fly that the Colts suspected the Patriots had illegally deflated their footballs below the allowed limit to gain an advantage in being able to grip their footballs better on offense.
While the scandal was big talk in the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, it died down after the Patriots won. While the investigation lingered on and the shift of NFL discussion went from free agency to pre-draft and now to draft review. Now, not even a week after the draft, it has returned.
Wells report also concludes it's probable that Patriots deliberately deflated balls and Tom Brady was "generally aware".
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 6, 2015
Essentially the report released specific details on the communications between two Patriots' employees, Jim McNally and John Jastremski, all details relevant to the questions of the involved balls which were suspected to be illegally deflated and gave probable conclusions on the findings from the information gathered. Though Brady did not allow his phone to be examined for the investigation, there was still a great deal of information gathered from text messages between McNally and Jastremski.
You can read the full 234-page report here, but here are the main excerpts that most might find interesting:
- The report included text messages where Jastremski would tell McNally that he would be receiving his "needle" for the specific week. To which McNally would reply, "Make sure the pump is attached," and his request that the "needle" be surrounded by cash and other valuables including autographed items.
- Communications from McNally seem to indicate that Brady was the "catalyst" for the idea of deflating, and that McNally would not deflate the balls as asked if he was angry with Brady.
- Jastremski seemed to detail conversations between him and Brady about McNally and that Brady was aware of what McNally might be doing with the balls. "Talked to him last night. He actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done..."
- McNally would refer to himself as "the deflator" in text messages and joked about telling ESPN about the details. ("jimmy needs some kicks....lets make a deal.....come on help the deflator"; "Chill buddy im just f%$&# with you ....im not going to espn........yet."
- McNally's knowledge of what pressure Brady preferred his footballs to be set at.
- The illegal removal of the game balls by McNally from the Officials Locker Room prior to the AFC Championship game, as well as the difficulty he had finding a place to deflate the footballs in private considering the crowded state of the Patriots' locker room before the game. He then went into a private bathroom and locked himself in their for approximately one minute and forty seconds, a time the report concludes would be long enough to deflate 13 footballs the amount suspected.
- McNally also failed to mention his taking the balls to the bathroom in his initial interview NFL Security, as well as his different explanations he would later give when asked about it.
- McNally received on January 10, almost a week before the AFC Championship game, two footballs autographed by Brady, as well as a game-worn jersey autographed by Brady. Jastremski and Brady were both present when McNally received the items.
- The timing and frequency of the text messages sent to and from Jastremski and McNally, as well as Jastremski and Brady, were raised by NFL Security and media reports.
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
Talking about the fallout of this report, there are a lot of things to mention about the timing of it, as well as what actions might be taken by the NFL in response to the report.
For one, some fans raised questions as to whether the timing of this report was purposefully taken into account so as not to have any punishments which could impact the Patriots' draft choices for 2015.
@JamesWalkerNFL I am furious that this conveniently came out as soon as the draft was finished--can't lose draft picks retroactively.
— Chris Bustin (@ChrisBustin13) May 6, 2015
But draft picks can be taken from any year, so that may not be a strong conspiracy theory. However, the severity of the punishment that might be dealt to Brady and the involved parties remains to be a major question. Responses have ranged from the scope of people not caring and seeing the deflation of footballs as not being impactful enough to warrant a serious punishment, to requesting for Brady to be suspended multiple games in 2015 and for the Patriots to lose a 2016 draft pick.
Though Brady did answer questions voluntarily in the investigation, he never agreed to turn over any documentation regarding the situation. Reading over the report, it's a reasonable finding to conclude that Brady was well aware of the deflation of the footballs.
As the possibilities of punishments are being considered, it would be important to remember the punishments dealt from the NFL to the Patriots over the Spygate scandal, including a $500,000 fine of Bill Belichick, a $250,000 fine to the Patriots' organization, and the loss of a 2008 first round draft pick. However this time around, this isn't just the organization in question, but a specific player, and arguably the most important player that has ever played for the New England Patriots.
Should the NFL consider to handout any punishment to Brady that involves a suspension of a regular season game, the biggest benefactors would be their first opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers.