Kraft throughout the entirety of the situation has insisted he never did anything illegalGETTY IMAGES
The sense among those attending the NFL owners' meetings this week is that if Patriots Owner Robert Kraft wins his solicitation of prostitution case, there is a "decent chance he'll also escape league discipline," according to Albert Breer of THE MMQB. Contrary to the owners' meeting two months ago, Kraft "wasn’t hiding this week in South Florida," and his interaction with his peers "was normal." That "isn’t the only thing to have changed since March’s league meetings -- attitudes surrounding Kraft’s situations have shifted too." Most owners and team execs "seem to have cooled on the idea that discipline under the league’s personal conduct policy is a necessary step." There are still some owners that "believe the league should be compelled to do something." But that is "not nearly the prevailing thought it once was." A dismissal of the case would mean Kraft would have a "misdemeanor charge without a conviction in a non-violent case -- and the league has never punished a player, owner or anyone else in such a situation." And while Kraft has "conceded what’s on the video, he’s also insisted he didn’t do anything illegal." What the NFLPA "monitors in these cases is consistency." Owners are "supposed to be held to a higher standard." But "not suspending Kraft, because of the non-violent nature of his charges, wouldn’t constitute any kind of inconsistency" (SI.com, 5/23).
