Robert Kraft: Patriots Will Reluctantly Accept Deflategate Punishment
SAN FRANCISCO (AP/CBS) — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft will not appeal the $1 million fine and loss of two draft choices the NFL penalized the team for its role in the use of deflated footballs in the AFC championship game.
Kraft said Tuesday at the owners meetings that he was putting the league before his franchise because "at no time should the agenda of one team" override "the good of the 32."
Furthermore, Kraft said the Patriots "accept reluctantly what [commissioner Roger Goodell] has given us."
The Patriots will lose a first-round draft pick next year and a fourth-rounder in 2017. Star quarterback Tom Brady has been suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season by the NFL, and Kraft's decision not to appeal his team's punishment does not affect Brady's appeal, which already has been filed by the players' union.
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