The New England Patriots got some incredible encouragement this past Sunday with their rookie Drake Maye looking like their future, but they have quite an issue that has been going on with one of their star defenders. Now, the team’s owner Robert Kraft is vowing that if the new reports are true, then he will cut their defender immediately.
Robert Kraft Vows To Cut Jabrill Peppers If Reports of Him Are True
The team owner addressed how their organization is going to handle the disturbing allegations that are being made against their star defender Jabrill Peppers. This started over a week ago when Peppers was arrested for sexual assault and battery as well as strangulation, and drug possession.
The Patriots star safety was accused of hitting and choking a woman and shoving her head against the wall. The details of the accusations are truly disturbing, and this caused Peppers to land on the commissioner’s exempt list. He is not allowed to practice or play with the team. Now, owner Kraft has revealed how the team is dealing with it, and that if true, he will be immediately cut from the team.
Kraft went on The Breakfast Club and discussed how his initial reaction:
“When you read the [police report] initially, it turns your stomach,” Kraft said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “But we learned, and I don’t know the facts of the case … once he goes on the commissioner exempt list, they do their independent checking. We’re doing ours. If what was reported is true, he’s gone.”
Peppers said that he has not committed any of these crimes and his attorney claimed that he has videotape evidence that will “shed real doubt on the allegations.” So it makes sense that the team is waiting to get to the bottom of it before they make any decisions of cutting or not. Kraft even said that there are suggestions that “this was a set-up” and the team ‘wants to get the facts” before any decision is made.
“If the facts are as been reported publicly, then he’s not with us,” Kraft said. “There is a possibility there’s a different explanation and the facts are different, so I’m personally just going to wait, knowing how these things can be unfair.”
He also added that it would be an easy move to cut Peppers the moment these accusations came out against him, but the owner wants to do right by this player, and if the reports are true, he will be immediately cut.
Here is the full interview below:
The team, in a rebuild, with many key injuries, did not need any of this distraction or outside noise for this year, but Kraft is one of the best owners in the NFL and will deal with this properly. If Peppers is indeed guilty of these crimes, it’s highly doubtful he will ever get a chance in the NFL moving forward.
But if these accusations are indeed a setup, then it is amazing of Robert Kraft to stick with his player barring these disturbing accusations.