Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Thinks the NFL is “Not fair”

18 May, 2015

Patriots owner Robert Kraft has broken his silence on Deflategate, using an interview Sports Illustrated’s Peter King described as “defiant and angry” as his platform to sound off on the controversy swirling around his team.

“This whole thing has been very disturbing,” Kraft said. “I’m still thinking things out very carefully. But when you work for something your whole life …”

“I just get really worked up. To receive the harshest penalty in league history is just not fair. The anger and frustration with this process, to me, it wasn’t fair. If we’re giving all the power to the NFL and the office of the commissioner, this is something that can happen to all 32 teams. We need to have fair and balanced investigating and reporting. But in this report, every inference went against us … inferences from ambiguous, circumstantial evidence all went against us. That’s the thing that really bothers me.

Kraft told King he is certain Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had no role in intentionally deflating footballs before the AFC Championship, and said he asked Brady if he was innocent.

“We had the discussion — if you did it, let’s just deal with it and take our hit and move on. I’ve known Tommy 16 years, almost half his life. He’s a man, and he’s always been honest with me, and I trust him. I believed what he told me. He has never lied to me, and I have found no hard or conclusive evidence to the contrary,” Kraft said.

It was Kraft’s first public comments beyond statements released by the team since the Wells Report was released May 6 and the NFL handed down its punishment May 11.

Kraft also expressed his belief the NFL does not have a “smoking gun” in the case against the Patriots, that the Wells Report misrepresented scientific theories regarding the deflated footballs, and that the NFL only has “ambiguous circumstantial evidence” in the case.

Kraft was also asked about his relationship with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

“You’ll have to ask him,” he said.

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