New England Patriots fans are a serious and loyal bunch. They don't take lightly to disparagements of their beloved franchise - whether real or perceived - and they sure don't stand for the league attempting to stamp their nearly unparalleled run of success over the past decade-plus with a big, shiny black mark. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's Deflategate punishments - a record-breaking fine for the organization, the loss of first- and fourth-round draft picks and, of course, the four-game suspension for quarterback Tom Brady - of course remain a sensitive issue amongst the Patriot faithful.
That's why it wasn't entirely surprising to learn Wednesday that a group of particularly diehard Pats fans had decided to take it upon themselves to seek the return of, at the very least, that first-round pick.
The Patriots fans in question - a group of seven, including a season-ticket holder who claims Deflategate has left his 7-year-old daughter disillusioned - filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Boston against the NFL in an effort to see the pick restored to the franchise.
The NFL, Goodell and even Patriots owner Robert Kraft have been named as defendants in the suit.
"Defendant Robert Kraft had remedies to attempt to get plaintiffs' draft pick back, but he chose his fellow billionaire owners above the plaintiffs and fellow fans," the suit said.
Another fan, based in Florida, alleges that the punishment meted out by Goodell has caused him to suffer from excessive amounts of stress and lost sleep.
Per the suit, the NFL made an "arbitrary and capricious" decision when it took the 2016 NFL Draft pick from the Patriots, despite the fact that there is no hard evidence that the Patriots and future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady engaged in a long-running scheme to see that the inflation levels of the footballs used by the New England offense was well below what is considered legal by the league.
The Deflategate scandal, of course, centers on the 2015 AFC Championship game between the Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, which the Patriots won handily. Unbeknownst to New England, their balls were tested at halftime by the league and found to be under-inflated.
It was later revealed that there are actually any number of reasons for the lowered inflation levels and that, in fact, the Patriots balls were not nearly as deflated as an initial report suggested.
Already, Brady's four-game suspension was vacated upon appeal, though the league has continued the fight against one of their most high-profile stars and could potentially see some or all of the ban reinstated following a court appearance last month.
Kraft told reporters at the NFL's owner's meetings last month that he sent a letter to Goodell asking that the picks be restored, but also said that he would not continue to fight the league on the matter.
