Book claims Tom Brady refused opportunity to escape Deflategate suspension
A new book claims Tom Brady could have done one simple thing to avoid a suspension over the Deflategate saga, but refused to do so.
In the new book “12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady’s Fight for Redemption,” authors Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge claim that Brady offered to pay a $1 million fine to move past Deflategate. Commissioner Roger Goodell allegedly wanted more, however — he wanted Brady to publicly throw two New England Patriots employees under the bus for their role in the deflation of footballs for the 2015 AFC Championship.
“He demanded that Brady publicly state that former Patriots equipment guys [John] Jastremski and [Jim] McNally had purposely tampered with footballs, even without his knowledge,” the book claims, in an excerpt shared by Shalise Manza Young of Yahoo Sports. “Tom said no.”
Brady allegedly told NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith that “There’s no way I’m gonna ruin these guys for something I believe they didn’t do.”
Brady was also said to be “devastated and angry” when owner Robert Kraft decided not to appeal Brady’s four-game suspension, asking Smith “Why am I not getting the support I deserve on this thing?”
Brady ultimately took the NFL to federal court unsuccessfully, and ended up serving the suspension. It’s safe to say that he still uses the whole ordeal to motivate himself even today.
