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NFL Players react to Wells Report on New England Patriots

By Stanford Crissey

Feb 4, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick waves to the crowd during the Super Bowl XLIX-New England Patriots Parade. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 4, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick waves to the crowd during the Super Bowl XLIX-New England Patriots Parade. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports /
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Current and former NFL players reacted on Twitter to the release of the Deflategate report

Wednesday, the NFL released the Wells report, the look into the claims that the New England Patriots were deflating footballs during the 2014 season. Though it could not say definitely, the report’s verdict was that it is “more probable than not” that the Patriots deliberately deflated the footballs, and that quarterback Tom Brady was probably aware of it.

The report comes four months after the AFC Championship game, a 42-7 Patriots win over the Indianapolis Colts. After the game, the Colts told the league they believed the Patriots deflated footballs. “Deflategate,” as it was dubbed by unimaginative reporters and/or Nixon enthusiasts, caused some waves leading up to the Super Bowl, but the actual affect of the deflation is unclear.

Following the release of the Wells Report, many current and former NFL players tweeted their reactions.

No one seemed surprised.

Well Well Wells indeed, Pat McAfee.

Many made fun of the bet-hedging wording of the report’s conclusion (“more probably than not,” etc.)

Ex-linebacker Shawne Merriman was among those amused by some of the text messages in the report between Patriots locker room employees.

Here are some of those text messages:

Some players questioned whether the deflation actually contributed at all to the Patriots’ winning ways.

So to sum up: The consensus seems to be that the report was wordy, late, and (in the case of the texts) sometimes hilarious, but players don’t seem to feel that this had much of an effect, if any, on the Patriots’ success. That sounds about right.

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