Robert Kraft wrote letter to Goodell asking for return of first-round pick

Kraft laid out a plan for the return of the first-round pick taken away from the Patriots as punishment for their role in Deflategate.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft wrote a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell over a month ago requesting that his team’s first-round pick in the 2016 draft be reinstated, Kraft told reporters at the NFL owners meeting on Monday.

The Patriots were fined $1 million and docked their first-round pick in the 2016 draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft for their role in the Deflategate scandal after the 2015 AFC Championship Game.

In the letter, Kraft explained the reasons he believed the Patriots deserved to have the pick returned to them. Kraft has previously said he did not challenge the penalty when it was first handed down in hopes it would aid quarterback Tom Brady in fighting his four-game suspension for the same incident.

Both NFL.com’s Judy Battista and the Washington Post’s Mark Maske quoted sources as saying there is “zero chance” the pick is returned. 

Brady’s suspension was ultimately overturned, but the NFL and the NFLPA have returned to court as the NFL seeks to overturn Judge Richard Berman’s decision to nullify Brady’s suspension.