New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft is ready to reconsider the NFL’s disciplinary process, which currently leaves final decision-making authority in the hands of commissioner Roger Goodell.
Kraft made it clear Saturday during a radio interview he wasn’t referring specifically to the NFL’s Deflategate investigation when discussing potential changes to how the league handles player discipline issues. But, as Kraft noted, the NFL’s current landscape involves many new, complex situations.
“There probably needs to be a rethinking so that the league office and the commissioner aren’t put in a spotlight in a way that detracts from the league’s image and the game — even if the league office is doing the right thing, or the wrong thing, or whatever you think,” Kraft said on 98.5 The Sports Hub before Saturday’s preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. “It probably needs to be rethought for the modern era that we’re in and the different things that are coming up that I don’t think people anticipated and how the public wants to see them treated.
“At the end of the day, our league consumes the country’s consciousness for big periods of the year and what we’re doing at the league level, and what the players are doing and coaches are doing should be the focus of how the public views us that vast majority of the time. I’m talking about all the things that have been talked about over the last year. I think it’s a general big picture issue that needs to be addressed, but I don’t have any answers for you today.”
The league office has a ton of day-to-day tasks. Its plate becomes even fuller when very serious issues, like domestic violence, crop up. Its becoming harder and harder for the league to keep up.
“I think there needs to be a prescribed process for how certain parts of the discipline process are going to work, especially probably the appeals, so that the spotlight and the attention doesn’t all have to fall on Park Avenue,” Kraft said. “I’m not saying Park Avenue is capable or not capable. I’m not making a value judgment with what I’m saying. I think I’m just making a big picture macro observation.”
Some food for thought during an interesting time for the NFL.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
