NFL Finally Penalize Patriots Over 2019 Film Crew Incident
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Coming off of the 2019 season, one final detail still remained as the NFL apparently took six months to finally make a determination following their investigation into an incident involving the team’s film crew last December.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the league has decided to impose a $1.1 million fine, as well as take away a third-round pick in 2021 for the infraction.
The investigation stemmed from their club’s television crew filming the field and sideline while gathering footage for a documentary for a web series called “Do your Job”. They were highlighting the work scouts do on the road, with the intention of using what they were filming for that purpose..
Bill Belichick adamantly denied any involvement and seemed pretty aggravated at the fact it even happened. During an interview with WEEI, Belichick made it clear it had zero to do with the football side of things.
“We have absolutely nothing to do with anything that they produce or direct or shoot,” referring to the team’s website staff. “I have never seen any of their tapes or anything else. This is something that we 100 percent have zero involvement with’.”
“We’re competitive and we’ll try to be competitive in every area,” Belichick told the media the next day, emphasizing how careful they’ve been over the years. “But we don’t knowingly, intentionally want to do anything that’s across the line.”
“But since that’s happened,” he continued, referring to the 2007 “Spygate” incident, “I’d say we’ve tried to keep a good distance behind the line and not maybe take it as far as we would might have in the past. But it’s never really fundamentally changed there.”
The team ultimately terminated the staff member involved.
The loss of a third-round pick isn’t quite as harsh as losing a first-round pick, which was the penalty assessed in the original Spygate incident. However, the $1.1 million fine is certainly larger, with the team previously having been fined $250,000, while Belichick was personally hit with a $500,000 penalty.
Fortunately, he avoided a suspension then and it appears the league will spare any type of penalty like that for him this time around as well.
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Other teams losing draft picks for indiscretions is almost unheard of.