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Adam Schefter via GHS: If Patriots didn't have prior history, they might not have been penalized for videotaping incident
It was a busy Sunday night for the Patriots.
In addition to landing Cam Newton, the team also had its penalties for videotaping incident last December get reported.
According to ESPN's Mike Reiss, the NFL has fined the team $1.1 million, taken away their third-round pick in 2021, will not allow Kraft Sports Productions to shoot any games in 2020 as well as have senior club officials take training on league operations and game policies.
The penalty is quite severe for something that didn't involve football operations, but appearing on The Greg Hill Show Monday morning, ESPN's Adam Schefter says he believes it is because of their past transgressions.
“It does seem steep, but I would say this, No. 1, the Patriots admitted that there was a transgression and No. 2, there was a history," he said. "Even though it might seem severe and steep, the NFL has to send a message that even with the Patriots, a team that [they’ve> had some good, close relationships over time — everyone knows Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft have had a good relationship — we’re going to impose punishment as we see fit.
“And in this particular case, the Patriots admitted it, everyone saw the tape, knew something happened, there was previous history. I think if there’s no history maybe it just goes away -- it’s not a team like the Patriots that has got the attention it has, maybe it just goes away. But because it’s the Patriots, because they have been in the spotlight, because they have had the history, because there’s so much attention on it, there we go, there’s the third-round pick.”
New England's video production team was shooting a feature on an advance scout and illegally shot the Bengals sideline during a game against the Browns.
