Patriots owner Robert Kraft shares stance on Jabrill Peppers allegations
"If what is reported is true, he's gone."
Patriots owner Robert Kraft made it clear that if the allegations against Jabrill Peppers are true, Peppers will have no place on the team moving forward.
“Once he goes on the commissioner’s exempt list, they do their independent checking,” Kraft said on “The Breakfast Club” morning show. “We’re doing ours. And if what is reported is true, he’s gone.”
Peppers, a 29-year-old safety in his third year with the Patriots, pleaded not guilty Monday after he was arrested Saturday on charges that include assault, strangulation, and drug possession.
He is accused of choking a woman multiple times and pushing her head against a wall before forcing her from his apartment. While Peppers was being processed, officers discovered a small bag of white powder in his wallet, which Peppers said was cocaine; it tested positive as the substance, per the arrest report.
A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 22, though his appearance has been waived.
Kraft, who begins discussing the topic at the 45:34 mark, said so much of what’s reported in the social media era is “unfair” in these types of situations.
Kraft said it “turns your stomach” when you read it initially, but the reality is that someone could be saying something that’s not true. If it is true, Kraft believes the decision is obvious.
“I have a saying I used with all my key people,” Kraft said. “Important decisions in life, you measure nine times and you cut once. And I think in this case, if what’s been reported is true, he’s gone, but we want to get the facts.”
Peppers will still be paid while he’s suspended from the Patriots’ operations.
Head coach Jerod Mayo said he fully supports the organization’s process. Time will tell how that investigation shakes out.
“I just want to be clear that really any act of domestic violence is unacceptable for us,” Mayo told reporters.
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