Charles Haley won five Super Bowl rings, three in Dallas and a pair with Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers.

So it’s no surprise that Haley would take Montana over New England Patriots four-time winner Tom Brady. The explanation of that decision could be a bit surprising.

“Joe didn’t have to cheat,” Haley told the Talk of Fame Network. “I’ve lost all respect (for Brady). When your integrity is challenged in the game of football, to me, all his Super Bowls are tainted. You have to say this just didn’t happen overnight. Who wants that shadow over them? I could be wrong. But I realize there were 12 balls deflated and 12 ain’t. Then you’ve got (Patriots coach Bill) Belichick coming on three different times trying to explain it … You know something is wrong.”

Haley will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August. He said Brady deserves to keep his Super Bowl rings, but the ongoing Deflategate controversy is hovering over Brady’s legacy. The three-time Super Bowl MVP owns multiple postseason records and eclipsed Montana’s mark for touchdown passes in the Super Bowl in the Patriots’ 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks in Arizona.

“It’s going to come back to haunt him one day,” Haley said. “If the league doesn’t come down on this guy … everybody is talking about it. Nobody believes it was by accident. It is what it is. I’m not going to take any of his Super Bowl rings away from him. But it’s sad that it has to be tainted like it is right now. Hopefully they’ll come out and let us know what really happened. Then all the mystery is gone.”

Commissioner Roger Goodell said in Phoenix last week that the league is not close to completing the investigation into whether the deflated footballs used in the first half of the AFC Championship game were flattened intentionally.