The topic of domestic violence again dominated the NFL news cycle this week following the latest developments in the Josh Brown situation.
New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft was asked for his take on the league’s response Sunday during an appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Patriots pregame show.
“Well, I’m going to speak for the New England Patriots,” Kraft said. “I think it’s something, going back to the days of Christian Peter, that we’ve been pretty stringent about, and I think ahead of the curve, in terms of the seriousness of this issue. I don’t think there’s an issue that you could say is more — there might be some that are as serious, but there’s nothing more serious than what’s going on in the domestic violence and the sexual abuse area.”
The Patriots drafted Peter in the fifth round in 1996 but released him just a week later. The former Nebraska defensive tackle had been arrested shortly before the draft and had a history of violence against women.
“It’s something that we have felt strongly about since we’ve owned the franchise,” Kraft continued. “We’ve partnered with (Massachusetts Attorney General) Maura Healey over the last year-plus to starting bringing a program into high schools in Massachusetts to make sure we’re using the power of professional sports and our players and our brand to make sure that at the teenage level, A, that we help prevent teenage sexual assault and abuse and hopefully start to teach young men when they’re still in their formative years that it’s something that’s totally unacceptable and it’s not something we’re ever going to tolerate here at the New England Patriots.”
The NFL placed Brown, a kicker for the New York Giants, on the commissioner’s exempt list Friday after documents in which he admitted abusing his wife were made public. Brown initially had been suspended just one game for his transgressions.
“Obviously, there is still a ways to go to make (the system) perfect,” Kraft said. “At the Patriots, we have taken it seriously for the 24 years our family has owned the team, and it’s something, for us, in which there literally is no gray area. It’s a very definitive and clear situation. … It’s something everyone should take very seriously.”
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports Images
