Chris Simms On WFAN: I've Lost Respect For 'Cheater' Tom Brady
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Former NFL quarterback and New Jersey native Chris Simms used to have all the respect in the world for Tom Brady.
Not anymore.
Not after the Patriots' star quarterback was implicated in the Wells Report for his role in "Deflategate" and subsequently suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season.
Chris Simms
The report found that team employees likely deflated footballs used in last season's AFC championship game against the Colts, and Brady was probably "at least generally aware" of the rules violations
"This is cheating, flat out," Simms told WFAN's Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on Tuesday afternoon. "Cheating in the NFL. No quarterbacks take out less air than what is mandated by the NFL. Nobody. I've never heard of anybody (doing) it. Plain and simple, I put it up there with PEDs, corking your bat, any of that."
Simms, who served as a coaching assistant for the Patriots in 2012, fully supports the four-game suspension. Because Brady is the face of the league, Simms thought Commissioner Roger Goodell might have suspended him for even more games.
In addition to the suspension, the Patriots have been fined $1 million and will lose their first-round pick in 2016 and fourth-round pick in 2017.
Simms isn't ready to call the Patriots cheaters as a whole, but Brady? That's a different story.
"I look at this simply as, 'No, not (that) the Patriots are cheaters, but Tom Brady is a cheater,'" Simms told Joe & Evan. "I don't have a lot of sports memorabilia in my house. I have a Tom Brady autographed helmet. Tom Brady was one of my favorite quarterbacks of all time, but I'm not so sure he is anymore now after all this.
"I don't play that game. I really don't. I'm very ethical ... When I say my top three (quarterbacks) from now on, I probably will not put Tom Brady in that list anymore. I don't know anymore. We know this went on more than one game."
