6 rings & football things: Checking in on the NFL Annual Meeting, Robert Kraft's press conference with Andrew Callahan
For the first time since introducing Jerod Mayo as the next Patriots head coach, owner Robert Kraft spoke with reporters at the NFL League Meetings in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday afternoon.
Taking 15 or so minutes to discuss the state of his football team, Kraft hit on topics such as ‘The Dynasty’ docuseries, New England’s moves in free agency, and the direction of the team under a new head coach and de facto general manager Eliot Wolf. We spoke with the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan on the 6 Rings and Football Things podcast following the press conference. You can watch it here:
Here are three thoughts and notable quotes from Kraft’s time behind the mic(s):
– Kraft was OK with the Patriots' free agency approach, says WR Calvin Ridley didn’t sign with the team in part due to his girlfriend.
New England entered the 2024 offseason with over $100 million in salary and to date has spent around $50 million, with most of it going to in-house re-signings. Kraft is seemingly content with this approach from his front office:
“I think we’re getting the system functioning the way we did – where this year we signed a number of younger players that we had drafted or had been in our system [Mike Onwenu, Kyle Dugger, Josh Uche, Anfernee Jennings],” Kraft explained when asked about fans not being pleased. “As a foundation, if you want to win consistently, you have to draft well and then get those players on the second contract. We started to do that this year. We pursued the people we wanted in free agency.”
“There was one outstanding receiver that unfortunately we couldn’t close,” he said of now-Titans pass catcher Calvin Ridley. “It was not because of finance. He made clearly his girlfriend wanted to be in the South. And we had a situation where the taxes were like almost 10% higher. We offered, or were willing to keep going at that premium, but he didn’t want to be in the Northeast. And part of it might be the quarterback situation as well.”
– Kraft says he was “unaware” of how bad things were in his building before seeing the NFLPA’s survey.
When the NFLPA released its findings of their annual survey last month, the Patriots got hosed on their team report card. Notably, they received an F- for ‘treatment of families’ and an F for their weight room.
Kraft explained on Tuesday how they plan on fixing said issues:
“I must tell you, I was unaware of how bad that was. We’ve had a plan, and we put in place, where we’re committing a whole new facility adjacent to ours that has been discussed with the young leadership team. A building that will be in excess of $50 million that will have the most [modern] facilities. We have to correct anything. I was not aware, even of this daycare issue. That’s something that’s fixable and we want to do. Look, the players are the heart and soul of the business. I’d be very surprised if that didn’t improve. That was done in the fifth week of the season.”
With Kraft saying he was unaware of the daycare issue, it’s worth pointing out that they graded low in this category in last season’s survey as well.
– You can add Kraft to the list of those disappointed with ‘The Dynasty’ docuseries.
Apple TV+’s ‘The Dynasty: New England Patriots’ has been labeled by many as a hit piece on former Pats head coach Bill Belichick and a production that poorly portrayed New England’s success as a franchise over their dominant 20+ year run.
You can now add Kraft to the list of critics:
“I loved the first three episodes. I felt bad that there was so much emphasis on the more controversial and let’s say ‘challenging’ situations over the last 20 years. I wish they had focused more on our Super Bowl wins, our 21-game win streak. I felt bad there were players who gave hours and hours of interviews and they felt only the negativity. People like Devin McCourty and Rodney Harrison and Matthew [Slater] – although I just heard quietly they’ve all felt that way. Actually there were some really prominent people who were interviewed for hours that never were used. So a little disappointed that there wasn’t more of a real positive approach – especially for Patriot fans who have lived the experience with us.”
He was also asked about the way Belichick was portrayed in the series:
“Look, I’ll state this clearly: I feel so privileged that we had Bill here,” he said while somewhat dodging the question. “We hope when he’s finished that we’re going to have a chance to honor him the way we will do with Tom Brady this year. We did this little ceremony at halftime of the Eagles game [for Brady], but it was not adequate. We look forward to being able to celebrate putting him into the Patriots Hall of Fame 6-12-24. I look forward to the privilege of putting Bill into the Patriots Hall of Fame one day in the future.”
Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @WEEI for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!
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