Den 6. mai 2015 publiserte NFL en 243 sider lang rapport rundt deflasjon av fotballer brukt i AFC Championship Game i fjorårets sesong. Rapporten onkluderte med at Brady sannsynligvis var klar over at ballene ikke hadde nok luft i seg. Den 11. mai ble Brady suspendert i fire kamper av NFL for å ha vært involvert, basert på "store mengder av troverdig bevismateriale" om at Brady visste at personer ansatt av Patriots trakk luft ut av ballene, og at han ikke hadde jobbet med etterforskerne. Den 11. mai skrev Troy Vincent, da NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations, et brev til Brady, hvor det blant annet sto: "Your actions as set forth in the report clearly constitute conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the game of professional football." Videre stod det: "With respect to your particular involvement, the report established that there is substantial and credible evidence to conclude you were at least generally aware of the actions of the Patriots' employees involved in the deflation of the footballs and that it was unlikely that their actions were done without your knowledge. Moreover, the report documents your failure to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation, including by refusing to produce any relevant electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.), despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information, and by providing testimony that the report concludes was not plausible and contradicted by other evidence." Brady anket suspensjonen gjennom NFL Players Association den 14. mai.