Competitors ‘brought pressure’ on NFL

That chatter continued this week, with owner Robert Kraft saying at a Bloomberg Breakaway on Tuesday night that he believes other NFL owners lobbied the league to punish his franchise aggressively.

So, our competitors, I understand how they brought pressure on the league office to be very strong and [lobbied] not to compromise on an issue that was nonsense and foolishness.” What’s interesting is Kraft’s outright, public claim that other NFL teams — the only way to read the word “competitors” — lobbied and “brought pressure” on the NFL office to pursue punishment against the Patriots.

The Patriots sit on the throne, having won five Super Bowls in the past 16 seasons — and playing in two others — and are the crown jewel of the NFL.

They just won the “sweetest” title of the Robert Kraft/Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era , but they have spent this offseason continuing to build up the roster for another title run.

A lot of times after a team wins a title they are forced to reckon with the roster realignment that comes along with a championship.