The Sports Xchange

Ted Wells responded Tuesday to allegations by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s agent that the Deflategate investigation was bias.

Speaking during an afternoon conference call, Wells said, “The conclusions in the report represent the independent opinions of me personally, and those opinions were not influenced in any way shape or form by anyone in the league office.”

Wells’ investigation determined that Brady “more probably than not” knew about two Patriots employees deflating game balls during the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts in January.

Brady’s agent, Don Yee, questioned Wells’ investigation after Brady was suspended for four games in 2015 by the NFL on Monday and the Patriots were fined $1 million and stripped of a first-round draft pick in 2016.

“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,” Wells said. “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 referred specifically to a text message by Patriots employee Jim McNally calling himself “deflator.”

“No one can ignore the implications of that text message, and no one can see it as a joke,” Wells said. “And nor is it circumstantial evidence. It is direct evidence.”

Wells said the Patriots cooperated in the investigation other than to make McNally available for an additional interview after he was questioned three times by NFL security.

“We interviewed him before we had discovered that most important text,” Wells said.

On Monday, Yee labeled Brady’s punishment “ridiculous” and accused the Colts of collusion in the case. He also contended that Wells had a conflict of interest because of previous work for the NFL.

“It is wrong to criticize my independence just because you don’t agree 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.”