Although New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft sounded combative in an interview that was published on Monday, a day later, he told the media that the franchise will accept its punishment for Deflategate. However, quarterback Tom Brady will continue to appeal his four-game suspension.
Although Ted Wells’ investigation into the deflation of footballs before the January AFC Championship game found that Kraft and head coach Bill Belichick weren’t involved, the NFL still fined the Patriots $1 million. In addition, the Patriots were stripped of their first round pick in the 2016 draft and a fourth round pick in the 2017 draft.
On Tuesday, Kraft said that the team will accept the penalty and won’t appeal, reports Boston.com.
““I dont want to continue the rhetoric that’s gone on for the last four months — I’m going to accept, reluctantly, what he has given to us, and not continue this dialogue and rhetoric, and we won’t appeal,” Kraft said at the NFL owners meeting in San Francisco.
Kraft’s comments come a day after his interview with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King was published. In that interview, Kraft said that he still believes Brady and insisted that the NFL doesn’t have a “smoking gun” in the scandal.
ESPN reports that Kraft still criticized the league today, saying that it took “way too long” for the investigation to finish.
ESPN also reported earlier today that the NFL and Patriots were having “backchannel conversations” to resolve their differences. It’s not clear if Kraft’s decision to accept the penalties was part of that.
Meanwhile, the NFLPA’s George Atallah tweeted that the players’ association will still appeal Brady’s four-game suspension.
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image of Tom Brady courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com