NFL notes: Patriots won’t appeal fine or penalties
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 in Los Angeles that he was putting the league before his franchise because “at no time should the agenda of one team outweigh the collective good of the 32.”
The Patriots will lose a first-round draft pick next year and a fourth-rounder in 2017.
“When the discipline came out, I felt it was way over the top,” Kraft said, adding that if he had made his decision last week, “I think maybe it might have been a different one.”
Kraft also recognized the powers given to commissioner Roger Goodell.
“Although I might disagree in what is decided, I do have respect for the commissioner, and believe he is doing what he perceives to be in the best interest of the 32,” Kraft added.
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.
The players’ union has asked Goodell to recuse himself from the appeal hearing for Brady in the deflated footballs case. The union calls Goodell a “central witness in the appeal hearing,” adding he is not impartial. The NFLPA is seeking a neutral party to serve as an arbitrator.
Land deal for proposed LA-area NFL stadium
A complex land transaction has closed that marks another step toward development of a shared NFL stadium near Los Angeles for the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders.
Chargers attorney Mark Fabiani says the transaction for land in the city of Carson closed Tuesday.
The centerpiece of the deal sends the deed for 157 acres of a former landfill to an entity controlled by the city. That entity will own and control the site and lease it to a stadium authority.
Raiders owner Mark Davis vowed to do all he can to keep his team in Oakland.
Davis said he will know by June 21 from the City of Oakland and Alameda County about a preliminary financing plan for $400 million to build a new stadium in the East Bay.
Davis reiterated he has no plans to sell the team in his lifetime, nor consider moving it to St. Louis.
Extra points
The players’ union asked a federal court to hold the NFL and Goodell in contempt in the Adrian Peterson case. The NFLPA said Goodell and the league “have deliberately ignored both the court’s decision from 11 weeks ago and our repeated requests to comply with that order.” … Raiders QB Derek Carr spent much of Tuesday’s organized team activity on the sideline as he deals with an undisclosed injury. Carr started all 16 games in his rookie season. … The Saints cut veteran kicker Shayne Graham and added receiver Lance Lewis to the roster. The 37-year-old Graham, a 15-year NFL veteran, has played for nine clubs and joined the Saints late in 2013.