Reports: Patriots Could Lose Draft Pick For Latest Videotaping Scandal

Update:

• Jay Glazer of FOX Sports obtained and aired footage of the incident between Bengals’ security and the Patriots’ employee. 

FOX SPORTS EXCLUSIVE: @JayGlazer reveals footage of Patriots filming Bengals. pic.twitter.com/C7U7mopaEm

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) December 15, 2019

According to Jason La Canfora, the Patriots are facing steep penalties, including heavy fines and even the loss of a draft pick, for violating the NFL’s gameday policies by videotaping the Bengals’ sideline last week. 

La Canfora adds it’s possible the NFL could also hand down a suspension for someone in upper management or ownership. The NFL is expected to quickly come to a resolution in the matter now that the winter owners meetings have concluded. 

New England is a repeat offender and there’s a precedent for punishment from other teams, including illegal cellphone use from the Browns and pumping in crowd noise by the Falcons. The Patriots also already admitted to violating the rules in a public statement. While the team says it did so unawares, La Canfora says intent is not factor in the NFL’s discipline. 

The Patriots claim an independent crew filming an episode of a documentary for the team’s media were unaware of the NFL’s sideline video policy. Sources who have viewed the Patriots’ recording tell Paul Dehner Jr of The Athletic that the video shows about eight minutes of footage focusing on recording the Bengals’ sideline.

Patriots HC Bill Belichick has maintained in multiple media availabilities that the football side “100 percent have zero involvement in this.”

The Patriots notified the Browns, Cincinnati’s opponent that week, that they would have a crew in the press box, but did not alert the league or the Bengals. Concerned Bengals employees flagged NFL security after seeing the crew videotaping the sideline for the entire first quarter and the tape was confiscated. 

We’ll have more regarding the Patriots videotaping situation as the news is available.