--- ---  # Tom Brady's Agent Says Four-Game Suspension 'Ridiculous' by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 12, 2015 12:04 PM UTC  Quarterback Tom Brady attends the welterweight unification championship bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Quarterback Tom Brady attends the welterweight unification championship bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.Al Bello—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 12, 2015 12:04 PM UTC The agent of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has said it was “ridiculous” for the National Football League to hand his client a four-game suspension over the Deflategate scandal. In a statement [released late Monday](http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n%5F1sm5jn2), Don Yee said the punishment has “no legitimate basis.” Yee says Brady will appeal the ruling, handed down after a report authored by [attorney Ted Wells](http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/05/07/ted-wells-report-new-england-patriots-deflategate) found it was “more probable than not” the quarterback had some knowledge that game balls had been tampered with before they reached the field in January’s AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. “In my opinion, this outcome was pre-determined; there was no fairness in the Wells investigation whatsoever,” Yee said in a [statement](http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n%5F1sm5jn2). “There is no evidence that Tom directed footballs be set at pressures below the allowable limits.” Yee adds, “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. “ The NFL argues the punishment was justified by Brady’s failure to submit text messages and emails during the ‘Deflategate’ investigation. “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,” NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent wrote to Brady, according to [_NBC Sports_](http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/11/don-yee-nfl-ruling-against-brady-has-no-legitimate-basis/). The Patriots also face a $1 million fine for the scandal. Tom Brady Deflategate: Don Yee Says Suspension 'Ridiculous' ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3855208/tom-brady-agent-suspension-deflategate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3855208/tom-brady-agent-suspension-deflategate/"},"headline":"Tom Brady's Agent Says Four-Game Suspension 'Ridiculous'","datePublished":"2015-05-12T12:04:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:07:16.422Z","description":"“There is no evidence that Tom directed footballs be set at pressures below the allowable limits,\" Yee said Monday","url":"https://time.com/3855208/tom-brady-agent-suspension-deflategate/","keywords":["Football","New England Patriots","Tom Brady","deflategate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a32432fe766a0ac/6987ef5935ba6f2385c0b510/tom-brady4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a32432fe766a0ac/6987ef5935ba6f2385c0b510/tom-brady4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Quarterback Tom Brady attends the welterweight unification championship bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.","caption":"Quarterback Tom Brady attends the welterweight unification championship bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.","creditText":"Al Bello—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/football/","name":"Football"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3855208/tom-brady-agent-suspension-deflategate/","name":"Tom Brady's Agent Says Four-Game Suspension 'Ridiculous'"}}]}] ```