Opinion: NFL should drop hammer on Patriots owner Robert Kraft if he's guilty

If Robert Kraft is found guilty or admits guilt in a plea deal in connection with charges of soliciting prostitution, the NFL needs to thoroughly punish the New England Patriots owner.

Kraft has been at the helm of the franchise that has set a new standard for excellence on the field, racking up six Super Bowl championships in 18 years. And yet the Patriots, under Kraft, have earned a reputation as unscrupulous cheaters, from Spygate to Deflategate.

And now this.

Kraft, 77, has been charged with twice paying for sexual services at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida, including on the same day the Patriots on the AFC championship. Kraft’s two misdemeanor charges were part of a larger crackdown on a human trafficking ring in south Florida. Through a spokesperson, Kraft has denied engaging in “any illegal activity.”

If Kraft is guilty of these charges, the NFL should suspend him for the entire season, fine him $1 million and strip the Patriots of their first-round draft pick next year.

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And if you think docking the Patriots a draft pick unfairly punishes the team, I would argue it's the only real punishment Kraft would feel.

A million bucks is seat-cushion money to a billionaire. As for not being around the team for a year, as long as Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are running things, a tackling dummy could be the owner and the Patriots will still reach the Super Bowl.

But losing a draft pick is an indelible stain that affects Kraft and his team’s fortunes for the foreseeable future.

It also serves as a stern reminder to the rest of the NFL that if your owner does wrong, if the person at the helm of whole enterprise is guilty of a serious crime, your entire franchise will feel the effects of this wrongdoing. As the NFL’s personal conduct policy states, “ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline.”

Some have suggested Kraft should be forced to sell the Patriots, but that’s going too far. That seems like a punishment more suitable for fixing problems with how an owner runs an organization — somewhat like the allegations of workplace sexual and racial misconduct in 2017 that led to Jerry Richardson selling the Carolina Panthers.

The NFL could still remove Kraft without forcing him to sell the team by having him relinquish operational control to his son, Patriots president Jonathan Kraft, somewhat like San Francisco 49ers owner Ed DeBartolo Jr. He ceded control to his sister, Denise DeBartolo York, after he was suspended for one year in 1999 for his part in a gambling fraud scandal.

What if Kraft isn’t found guilty? With all the evidence Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg claims to have, including surveillance video of Kraft paying for sexual acts, it’s hard to imagine Kraft avoiding legal punishment.

But it’s possible. The NFL likes to wait and take its cue from legal authorities. However, under the league’s personal conduct policy, an NFL employee doesn’t have to be found guilty in order to receive punishment from the league.

It’s just too hard to say what the NFL would do to Kraft if he isn’t found guilty, because of the various scenarios that could play out. He could beat the charges in any number of ways. That would make Kraft innocent in a court of law but guilty in the court of public opinion — and public opinion matters a lot to the NFL. The league’s personal conduct policy states, not coincidentally as its final example of prohibited conduct,  that “undermines or puts at risk the integrity of the NFL" is punishable.

There’s an old saying in sports: If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’. The idea underscores the notion that success comes at the expense of integrity.

It makes you question the price of victory, especially by a team like the Patriots who teach us far too often that success comes at a steep price. It makes you wonder why any team, like the Detroit Lions, would think it could emulate the success of the Patriots without also copying its murky moral culture.

It makes you wonder every time Kraft and Belichick and Brady hold up the Lombardi Trophy if this truly is what winning is supposed to look like.

Follow Carlos Monarrez on Twitter @cmonarrez