Kyle: Deputy Barney Fife, I mean Commissioner Goodell, showing everybody that he is boss, will levy some overly-heavy handed punishment on the Pats. The punishmentshould be similar to a Jaywalking ticket, $25,000. However, Commissioner Fife will pull the one bullet out of his shirt pocket and give a four game suspension to BB, a hefty (more than $250,000) fine for the team, and the loss of a mid-round draft pick (3 or 4- which is not devastating as they have Tampa bay’s 4th). That sounds absurdly correct.
Ricky: To me, the punishment should be a hefty fine and a first round draft pick, nothing more. While New England would have violated the rules if found guilty, it’s not something that the NFL should go overboard for. Plus, can Commissioner Goodell give a hefty penalty to the Patriots when one of his allies is Pats’ owner Robert Kraft. If anything, Kraft would probably give a tougher internal suspension if he felt that it did a ton of damage to the Patriots’ credibility. If it did go overboard, I could expect a cap penalty, but I don’t expect Belichick to be suspended in this case.
Raj: The Patriots will not get punished for this, in my opinion. Deflategate has been overblown by the media when it really isn’t that big of a deal. Stats even show the Pats did better with inflated footballs. In addition, I feel they won’t be able to prove that the Patriots tampered with any of the footballs. Probably some ballboy or inactive scrub had something to do with it but even then, we just don’t know. Because of that, there won’t be anything to say that the Patriots were guilty of deflating these footballs. Most Americans thinks this team cheated but hey, what can we do? Extreme cases of ignorance and jealousy can never be fixed. But the league will be smart and not formally charge the Patriots with anything when they realize they don’t have any evidence.
Derek: I think it will be a two-game suspension for Belichick, which will ultimately be increased to a full-season suspension when video surfaces of Gronk spiking the game balls in an elevator to force the air out of them. The league will deny ever seeing the videotape, which will then launch an investigation into how much the NFL knew during this critical lead up to the Pro-Bowl. Belichick will ultimately appeal his suspension and win, causing massive outcry amongst the Patriots haters out there. Ray Lewis will wax on about integrity on ESPN while wearing a white suit with some strange red stains and squirting deer antler spray into his mouth.
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