Deflategate investigation: Tom Brady ‘generally aware’ of balls being under-inflated

The lengthy investigation into the New England Patriots allegedly tampering with footballs was released on Wednesday, and good luck to you if you can get through all 139 pages of it. The main takeaway from Ted Wells’ findings is that the Patriots likely deflated footballs intentionally, and Tom Brady probably knew about it.

Wells wrote that it is “more probable than not” that Patriots employees participated in cheating before the AFC Championship Game. The report also concluded that it is “more probable than not” that Brady was “generally aware of the inappropriate activities” of two equipment managers.

The two Patriots staffers that were at the center of the investigation are officials locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski. Text messages that were exchanged between McNally and Jastremski appeared to show the two joking about Brady wanting them to let air out of footballs. You can read some of the texts below, but be aware they contain inappropriate language.

Text message exchange between two Pats employees about Tom Brady & getting his footballs ready. Damn. pic.twitter.com/oGBksapACj

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) May 6, 2015

All in all, Wells and his team were unable to find any hard evidence that proves the Patriots let air out of footballs after they were inspected before the AFC Championship Game. What that means is the findings probably wouldn’t hold up in a court of law. The Patriots’ team attorneys insist the text messages between McNally and Jastremski were nothing more than attempts at humor.

That said, common sense will tell you something fishy was going on per Brady’s request. Brady refused to give up his phone as part of the investigation, which many are already saying proves he is guilty.

Whether you care or not is a decision only you can make. For our previous stories on Deflategate, click here.