Ted Wells held a 30-minute conference call with the media Tuesday, and it sounds like statements made by Tom Brady’s agent, Don Yee, got under the investigator’s skin.
Wells was fiery in his opening statement, responding to Yee’s claims the Wells Report was biased against the Patriots.
“I would like to start out by responding to criticisms by Mr. Brady’s agent, Don Yee, about my independence, and his suggestions that the conclusions of the report were somehow influenced by persons in the league office who wanted to find wrongdoing by the Patriots and Mr. Brady,” Wells said.
“The conclusions in the report represent the independent opinions of me personally and my team. And those conclusions were not influenced in any way, shape or form by anyone at the league office. We made a fair and reasonable review of the evidence, and we reached conclusions based on the preponderance of the evidence standard, which I was required to apply based on the league’s rules.
“To the extent Mr. Yee is suggesting that I have some type of conflict because I and my law firm do other work for the NFL, I want to be clear that it is well known that I worked for the NFL in the Miami Dolphins investigation involving Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito. And also that my law firm is involved in representing the NFL in the concussion cases. Those facts were all publicly known at the time I was appointed.
“When I was appointed to be the independent investigator, no one at the Patriots, or in Mr. Brady’s camp, raised ANY issues about my independence or my integrity to judge the evidence impartially and fairly. In fact, Mr. Kraft, to my recollection, publicly said he welcomed my appointment. I think it is wrong to criticize my independence just because you disagree with my findings.”
Wells said he couldn’t recall how much the NFL paid him for the report, but it was “in the millions of dollars.”
He also claimed the NFL wasn’t hoping Brady and the Patriots were found guilty of DeflateGate.
“It is wrong to criticize my independence just because you disagree with my findings,” Wells said. “In my mind, the NFL certainly wasn’t hoping that I would come back with a report that would find that something happened wrong with the Patriots or Tom Brady. They wanted me to get to the bottom of the facts. …
“All of this discussion that people at the league office wanted to put some type of hit on the most popular, iconic player in the league, the real face of the league, it just doesn’t make any sense. It’s really a ridiculous allegation. What drove the decision in this report was one thing — it was the evidence. I could not ethically ignore the import and relevancy of those text messages and the other evidence.”
Wells said the most damning evidence against Brady came in series of texts from October in which Patriots staffer John Jastremski said to fellow staffer Jim McNally, “Talked to him last night. He actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done… I told him it was.”
Wells didn’t continue the conversation, in which Jastremski says to McNally that the footballs he’s referencing were over-inflated to 16 PSI by officials, not the legal minimum of 12.5 or lower.
Jastremski: He was right though…
Jastremski: I checked some of the balls this morn… The refs (expletive) us…a few of then were at almost 16
Jastremski: They didnt recheck then after they put air in them
McNally: (Expletive) tom …16 is nothing…wait till next sunday
Jastremski: Omg! Spaz
Thumbnail photo via Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports Images
