Robert Kraft says he sent Roger Goodell a letter asking for Patriots’ first-round pick back

Robert Kraft apparently has forgotten his stated intention of not continuing the “dialogue and rhetoric” about Deflategate.

More than 10 months after announcing he would not appeal the NFL’s decision to fine his team and take away its first- and fourth-round draft picks in the aftermath of the scandal, the Patriots owner told reporters Monday that he sent a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell in February asking for the 2016 first-round pick back.

“I personally wrote a letter to the commissioner, responding to his comment that if any new facts came up he would take them into consideration,” Kraft said at the NFL owners’ meeting in Boca Raton, Fla. “And I personally believe that when the league made their decision, they did not factor in the Ideal Gas Law. They admitted that publicly. They’ve had a full year of being able to observe Tom Brady play with all the rules of whatever the NFL was and make any judgments there.

“We have laid it out pretty straightforward, and now it’s up to them to decide.”

Kraft would not say if he had gotten a response from Goodell but stated “I pray and desire” that his team will end up getting its first-round pick back.

“In this age of parity, everything is — the scheduling, the salary cap — it’s very hard to compete without the lifeblood of the draft. And so we understand the importance, and I assure we’ve done everything we can do that has a chance of success.”

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-robert-kraft-deflategate-20160321-story.html

Patriots owner Robert Kraft writes Roger Goodell asking to give back draft picks lost in Deflategate scandal

More than a year after the Deflategate scandal broke, Patriots owner Robert Kraft is still fighting to reduce or eliminate the penalties his team received for a couple of slightly flat footballs. Kraft said Monday that he wrote a letter to Roger Goodell asking the league to give back the two draft picks that were taken from them as a result of the scandal.

Even though Tom Brady’s initial four-game suspension was vacated, the Patriots still have had a 2016 first-round pick and a 2017 fourth-round pick taken from them.

Kraft apparently didn’t sound particularly hopeful that his letter, which he said he wrote more than a month ago, would work.

“I personally believe that when the league made their decision, they did not factor in the Ideal Gas Law,” Kraft said at the league meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., Monday, according to ESPN. “They admitted that publicly. They had a full year of being able to observe Tom Brady play with all the rules of whatever the NFL was, and make any judgments there. We have laid it out pretty straightforward. And now it’s up for them to decide.”

Kraft wouldn’t answer questions about whether Goodell responded to him.

The Patriots’ owner also expressed frustration that the league did not disclose the PSI information it collected during the 2015 season.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/pats-owner-kraft-writes-goodell-deflategate-picks-article-1.2572140