Charles Haley made it to the Hall of Fame, in part, because of his five Super Bowl rings.
But he said just because Tom Brady has four now, he doesn’t have the same measure of respect for the Patriots quarterback.
Asked by Clark Judge of the Talk of Fame Network to compare Brady to former teammate Joe Montana (who also has four rings), Haley said it wasn’t close, because of #DeflateGate
“Joe didn’t have to cheat,” Haley said. “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.
“This is what Charles Haley believes — it’s going to come back to haunt him one day. 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.”
Granted, Haley wasn’t exactly a choirboy during his career, and the 49ers were long-standing circumventers of the salary cap.
But in Haley’s mind, PSI: New England is a scandal that will cloud Brady’s career.
