The New England Patriots made headlines over a month ago following an incident that involved staff members videotaping the Cincinnati Bengals' sideline. According to Ian Rapoport, the NFL will discipline New England for filming the Bengals' sideline.
The incident occurred in Week 14 when the Bengals were facing the Cleveland Browns. The Patriots originally stated that the staff members were in Cleveland to film a feature for the team's video series called “Do Your Job”.
Despite that, it remains to be seen if the football side of the organization was involved with the situation. Regardless, the NFL has seen enough in the videos to punish the Patriots for committing a game-day violation.
Of course, this isn't the first time that New England has been involved in a videotaping scandal that was labeled as “Spygate”. Back in 2007, the Patriots were caught videotaping the signals of coaches of the New York Jets.
As a result, Bill Belichick and the Patriots were fined a combined total of $750,000. Along with the fines, the NFL stripped New England of their first-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.
There will definitely be given out as a form of punishment. However, it is uncertain if New England will lose any draft picks in 2020. Unless the league can prove that the football side of the franchise was involved, it's hard to imagine they get their first-round selection taken away.
Many people have labeled this unfortunate situation as “Spygate 2”. Regardless of the outcome, many already believe there is an asterisk alongside New England's dynasty.