Roger Goodell won't return New England Patriots draft picks

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear Wednesday he is not changing his mind in response to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's letter seeking reinstatement of the draft picks the team was stripped as part of the Deflategate penalties.

Goodell, speaking at the close of the NFL owners meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., said he has not received any new information that would convince him to change the punishment.

"I responded to him (Kraft) two weeks ago and told him that I had considered his views and I didn't think there was any new information in there that would cause us to alter the discipline," Goodell said Wednesday at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. "So there will be no change to the discipline."

The 74-year-old Kraft told reporters Monday that he wrote a letter to Goodell over a month ago. Kraft wanted Goodell to reconsider the penalties of a 2016 first-round pick, 2017 fourth-round pick, four-game suspension of quarterback Tom Brady and a $1 million team fine.

"I personally believe that when the league made their decision, they did not factor in the ideal gas law. They admitted that publicly," Kraft said Monday. "They had a full year of being able to observe Tom Brady play with all the rules of whatever the NFL was, and make any judgments there. We have laid it out pretty straightforward. And now it's up for them to decide. ...

"They did their own testing, they have results, and for whatever reason, they haven't shared them with any of us. We actually requested at the beginning of the season that they test every game throughout the league and do that, but they chose to do it their way."

Brady's suspension was overturned in federal court and the NFL has appealed. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York heard testimony on March 3 from both sides, and the three judges might take weeks or months to issue a ruling.