National Football League

Patriots reportedly asked by NFL to suspend equipment managers

Published May. 19, 2015 8:42 a.m. ET

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The New England Patriots were asked by the NFL to suspend two equipment managers who allegedly deflated footballs prior to the AFC Championship Game, ESPN reported Tuesday.

John Jastremski and Jim McNally were suspended indefinitely by the Patriots on May 6, days before the league punished quarterback Tom Brady and the team. Brady was suspended the first four games of the regular season, and the Patriots were fined $1 million and docked two draft picks based on the findings of the Wells Report, which found that it was "more probable than not" that the Patriots were involved.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by the team or Brady, who has filed an appeal and stands firmly behind his quarterback.

"Yes. Because we had the discussion: 'If you did it, let's just deal with it and take our hit and move on,'" Kraft told the MMQB.com. "I've known Tommy 16 years, almost half his life. He's a man, and he's always been honest with me, and I trust him. I believed what he told me. He has never lied to me, and I have found no hard or conclusive evidence to the contrary."

Kraft contends that the Wells Report and the league's punishments were not fair.

"I just get really worked up," Kraft said. "To receive the harshest penalty in league history is just not fair. The anger and frustration with this process, to me, it wasn't fair. If we're giving all the power to the NFL and the office of the commissioner, this is something that can happen to all 32 teams. We need to have fair and balanced investigating and reporting. But in this report, every inference went against us ... inferences from ambiguous, circumstantial evidence all went against us. That's the thing that really bothers me.