As expected, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will not simply take his four-game suspension without a fight.
Brady’s agent, Don Yee, indicated Monday in a statement to media outlets that the quarterback will appeal the NFL’s ban in connection with the investigation into alleged football deflation by New England.
“The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis,” Yee said, according to Fox Sports’ Mike Garafolo. “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. In fact, the evidence shows Tom clearly emphasized that footballs be set at pressures within the rules. Tom also cooperated with the investigation and answered every question presented to him.”
Upon announcing that Brady would fight the ban, Yee said the following: "(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. The NFL has a well-documented history of making poor disciplinary decisions that often are overturned when truly independent and neutral judges or arbitrators preside, and a former federal judge has found the commissioner has abused his discretion in the past, so this outcome does not surprise me.”
In a letter to Brady regarding the league’s punishment, NFL executive V.P. Troy Vincent wrote the following:
“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.”