After New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady conceded his four-game “Deflategate” suspension, team CEO Robert Kraft released a scathing statement, per the team’s official website.
Here is a portion of the statement in which Kraft uses some very strong language objecting to the suspension.
“The penalty imposed by the NFL was unprecedented, unjust and unreasonable, especially given that no empirical or direct evidence of any kind showed Tom did anything to violate League rules prior to, during or after the 2015 AFC Championship Game. What Tom has had to endure throughout this 18-month ordeal has been, in my opinion, as far removed from due process as you could ever expect in this country.”
Earlier on Friday, Brady announced via his Facebook that he would drop his battle to appeal the four-game suspension that was reinstated this year.
Brady’s only other option was to take his claim to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Since Day 1, the Patriots organization has stood behind its quarterback and has denied any wrongdoing on Brady’s reported involvement in the “Deflategate” scandal.
Kraft’s compelling statement only solidifies the franchise’s support of Brady. On another note, it will be interesting to see if things remain frosty between Goodell and Kraft in the years to come.
In the end, Kraft thanked all who have supported the organization through what has been a grueling 18-month long uphill battle.
“To our devoted fans, your unwavering support for Tom and our organization have only reinforced our longstanding belief that we have the greatest fans in all of sports. We will continue to unequivocally support Tom and know our fans will rally around him and the rest of the team like never before. Our full focus now is on making the upcoming season a memorable one for all of our fans.”
Now that this nightmare is over, the Patriots can now focus on getting Jimmy Garoppolo fully up to speed to start for the team during Weeks 1-4. Brady will return in Week 5 for a road game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Oct. 9.