Robert Kraft Discusses Deflategate Report, Tom Brady and More in MMQB Exclusive

Tom Brady is innocent, the NFL's handling of Deflategate is "disturbing" and the New England Patriots won't rule out violating the league's bylaws to sue if commissioner Roger Goodell upholds their punishments.  

Those are the words of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who sat down over the weekend for an interview with Peter King of TheMMQB.com. Kraft, once one of Goodell's closest confidants among NFL owners, made it very clear he's nowhere close to being over the unprecedented penalties handed down:

"

This whole thing has been very disturbing. I’m still thinking things out very carefully. But when you work for something your whole life …

I just get really worked up. To receive the harshest penalty in league history is just not fair. The anger and frustration with this process, to me, it wasn’t fair. If we’re giving all the power to the NFL and the office of the commissioner, this is something that can happen to all 32 teams. We need to have fair and balanced investigating and reporting. But in this report, every inference went against us … inferences from ambiguous, circumstantial evidence all went against us. That’s the thing that really bothers me.

"

Last week, the NFL suspended Brady four games, stripped the Patriots of two draft picks and fined the club $1 million for the Deflategate scandal. The NFL meted out the penalties both for the violations themselves, which centered on deflating game balls below league PSI requirements in last season's AFC title game, and the team's refusal to cooperate fully with the investigation.

An independent report (Warning: Contains NSFW language) by Ted Wells found that it was "more probable than not" Brady was aware the balls were being tampered with. The investigation largely relies on text messages between Patriots employees Jim McNally and John Jastremski.

Kraft told King he still believes Brady had nothing to do with the alleged scheme, saying: 

"

Yes. Because we had the discussion—if you did it, let’s just deal with it and take our hit and move on. I’ve known Tommy 16 years, almost half his life. He’s a man, and he’s always been honest with me, and I trust him. I believed what he told me. He has never lied to me, and I have found no hard or conclusive evidence to the contrary.

"

The NFLPA filed an appeal on Brady's behalf last week. Goodell, who in recent high-profile cases has hired an independent arbitrator, made the surprising decision to hear Brady's appeal himself.

Kraft refused to give concrete answers about what the Patriots would do if Goodell upholds the punishments. He would not rule out circumventing the league's bylaws to fight Brady's suspension in court and said he would "rather not get into that for a week or two" when asked if he'd continue sitting on the multiple owners committees to which he currently belongs.

The implication was clear: If Goodell upholds these punishments, Kraft will consider every avenue possible. He said, specifically when asked about the prospect of Jimmy Garoppolo starting, that it's an "academic" question. 

But the Patriots appear to be preparing for a fight.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.