Robert Kraft Wants 'Everyone Who Deserves To Be On The Field' To Play In Season Opener
BOSTON (CBS) -- Life as a Super Bowl champion isn't always easy.
With the never-ending DeflateGate scandal, the tampering fight with the Jets, the Brandon Spikes news, and various other situations remaining unsettled in Patriots-land, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows in Foxboro since winning the Super Bowl in February.
It's a burden, Robert Kraft says, that occasionally can be a champion's to bear.
"Functioning in life is not easy for anyone, and when you're privileged to have great things happen, with more responsibility comes more stress," Kraft said Tuesday at the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation's Myra Kraft Community MVP Awards, per The Boston Globe's Ben Volin. "[We] just have to deal with it and hopefully good things happen. I believe we have a very solid, good team, and we're gonna have a lot of fun this year."
With regard to the upcoming season, Kraft seemed to indicate without saying the words "Tom" or "Brady" that he hopes to see his franchise quarterback win his suspension appeal and be on the field for the Week 1 opener.
"It's our hope that opening game here [at Gillette Stadium], that we'll have the privilege of having everyone who deserves to be on the field starting that game," Kraft said. "I know that's what our fans want and what we want."
Brady is currently in the process of appealing the four-game suspension handed down to him by the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell will hear that appeal, thereby putting Kraft in a tough spot to make public comments. Kraft himself dropped his fight with the league over the punishment issued to the team -- a first- and fourth-round pick, in addition to a $1 million fine. Kraft said last month, "I don't want to continue the rhetoric that's gone on for the last four months. I'm going to accept, reluctantly, what [Goodell] has given to us, and not continue this dialogue and rhetoric, and we won't appeal."
Given the team's public acceptance of Goodell's punishment, Kraft can't necessarily come right out and say that he hopes Brady wins his appeal. Indeed, he said Tuesday, "We're part of the system, and we'll follow the rules." But the message seemed pretty clear on Tuesday.
Aside from DeflateGate, Kraft also addressed the team's decision to release Brandon Spikes, after the suspicious events that transpired over the weekend. Though Kraft didn't divulge details of what the team knew about the situation, he said, "I think all of you can understand exactly what happened."
