How should the NFL punish Robert Kraft?
A six-game suspension for the Patriots owner seems to fit past transgressions.
COMMENTARY
Rob Gronkowski sure made it an easier week for Bob Kraft.
While the Patriots deny there was anything other than blissful convenience in the timing of the future Hall of Fame tight end’s decision to call it a career on Sunday night, it didn’t hurt to have Gronk be the news everybody was talking about when Kraft landed in Arizona for the NFL owners meetings.
Alas, the Patriots owner did make headlines during the tail end of the junket in the desert Tuesday, when records revealed Kraft requested a jury trial in connection with the prostitution-related charges he’s facing in Florida. Kraft had originally been scheduled for a hearing in Palm Beach County on Thursday, but filed a waiver of arraignment.
Other than that, things were awfully quiet on the Kraft scandal this week in Phoenix. Fellow owners were unusually mum in regards to voicing their opinions when it comes to yet another scandal involving the New England Patriots. Maybe that’s under order from commissioner Roger Goodell, figuring Kraft’s hollow “apology” last weekend was satisfactory enough. Or, perhaps they just somehow realize that any “tsk tsk” on their end might come back to bite them sooner rather than later.
An image surfaced Tuesday of Kraft and Goodell in deep conversation in Arizona, but the NFL didn’t officially deliver any news as to what Kraft’s punishment might look like. When asked about it late Tuesday, Goodell told reporters, “I think we said several weeks ago the personal conduct policy applies to everybody — commissioner, owners, executives, players, coaches — and it will be applied to everybody. But it will be done after we get all the facts, we have all the information, and we’ll be fair and smart about it.”
As ridiculous as the connections to human trafficking in Palm Beach turned out to be, Kraft is still facing misdemeanor charges of solicitation. That’s more than the likes of Kareem Hunt, Ezekiel Elliott, and Jameis Winston ever had levied against them, and those three players served a combined 15 games without a charge to their names.
Logic would then have it that under the NFL’s heavy-handed Personal Conduct Policy, Kraft is due for a suspension of his own by the time the 2019 NFL season begins this fall.
“Everyone who is part of the league must refrain from ‘conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in’ the NFL. This includes owners, coaches, players, other team employees, game officials, and employees of the league office, NFL Films, NFL Network, or any other NFL business,” the policy states. “Ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline when violations of the Personal Conduct Policy occur.”
If consistency has anything to do with it — and frankly, in Goodell’s NFL, it doesn’t — Kraft would receive the same six games that Hunt and Elliott each received. That stays in line with what Colts owner Jim Irsay faced in 2014 after giving his best impression of Rafael Caro Quintero following a charge of DWI.
The NFL also fined Irsay $500,000. A similar monetary amount and games served would seem satisfactory for Kraft’s misdoings. Or not, since, as we’ve been led to believe, he didn’t do anything.
Despite the level of innocence some Patriot fans seem to want to bestow upon their team’s owner, a lack of punishment would make the NFL look (more) cowardly in the decision-making process against arguably its most powerful owner. From a PR perspective, the NFL would look awfully shady in regards to its precious Personal Conduct Policy if it delivers Winston a three-game suspension for groping an Uber driver, but goes light on Bob Kraft for his repeat visits to the spa.
Then again, looking shady is what the NFL tends to do best.
“We don’t want to touch this until after it’s finished with in court,” one owner told CNN. “Robert is a friend. We would much rather be focusing on football here than his personal issues.”
Word did leak from Phoenix that the Patriots won’t kick off the season on Thursday Night Football, a slot traditionally reserved for the Super Bowl champs. The Bears and Packers will begin the league’s 100th anniversary, and the Patriots will face a yet-to-be-named opponent on Sunday night.
If Kraft is suspended for the first six games of the season, that move would figure to at least save the owner and the league a fraction of shame. While New England would still open to a national audience, the coverage of the banner unveiling should be a bit muted following the first Sunday’s slate of action. The Patriots will be the only game in town, but they won’t be the first and only game in town.
Then again, Goodell might figure that Kraft doesn’t deserve much. Depends on how well he can see his Personal Conduct Policy dartboard.
Now, if Gronkowski could announce he’s coming out of retirement sometime around when Kraft’s jury starts getting selected, that would be swell. The Patriots can’t afford to have anyone else retiring when the trial finally begins.
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