Kraft Needs to Back Mayo With His Wallet

[Rob0729]

One positive thing was Kraft made it a point to say the Pats had a lot cap space when they had the press conference to announce Mayo.

Personally, even if the people who think over the years it was more Kraft than Belichick who was cheap and wouldn’t spend, I expect Kraft to spend in free agency even if it is only to give the appearance that Belichick was the one who never spent in free agency and Kraft would have bankrolled him if he wanted.

 

[Triumph]

Buck stops with the boss. It's always gonna be his fault.

Especially this incoming season.

What could BK have done to mend fences?

Brady didn't help matters with his TB12 nonsense.

 

[Toofy]

The problem with FA this year is there is little reason for FAs to come here, other than money.

The top FAs are mostly on the D side, those guys used to come because BB was here.

People are taking about Kirk and Tee, but why would a older QB come here when we have no line or high end weapons? Why would Tee come when we have no QB?

Two of three top tackles are our tackles from the most recent season, we aren't fixing the line the line either

Where are we spending money this off season?

I haven't read the article yet, but I hope it is a out signing the few players on the team that deserve it.

Fair and valid point. I thinkbwe resign our folks and try to build out team. We need to find out our Jordan love and I don't think that exists at number 3. We need a bona-fide game changer at 3 and that's MHJ.

 

[upstater1]

Agreed. It wasn't a lack of money.

Worse. It was an unwillingness to spend the money (on him). That philosophy needs to change.

Key question: WHO was unwilling?

 

[Rob0729]

The problem with FA this year is there is little reason for FAs to come here, other than money.

The top FAs are mostly on the D side, those guys used to come because BB was here.

People are taking about Kirk and Tee, but why would a older QB come here when we have no line or high end weapons? Why would Tee come when we have no QB?

Two of three top tackles are our tackles from the most recent season, we aren't fixing the line the line either

Where are we spending money this off season?

I haven't read the article yet, but I hope it is a out signing the few players on the team that deserve it.

People overstate this stuff a bit. Every year bad teams get a haul in free agency when they spend. Football is a business and many football player would rather make more on an 1-16 team than take significantly less on a Super Bowl contender.

And by all accounts, Tee Higgins isn’t giving any home town discount to remain in Cincy and wants to be paid among the top WRs in the league. I am guessing if the Pats are willing to offer that, Higgins would come to NE.

I am betting most players are more likely to follow the money than take less to play for a contender. The Pats did get a lot of players who chose here largely to play with Brady and/or Belichick and win a Super Bowl. But looking back how many of those guys were the biggest in demand free agents?

 

[festy1986]

What could BK have done to mend fences?

Brady didn't help matters with his TB12 nonsense.

I don't know. It doesn't matter anymore. It happened.

Kraft is the only one left to deal with the consequences of it all and so he will.

Luckily for Kraft is almost no chance that belichick can win in Atlanta. But if you somehow does, oof.

 

[Triumph]

Luckily for Kraft is almost no chance that belichick can win in Atlanta. But if you somehow does, oof.

BB will have McDaniels and possibly Kirk Cousins. 9 - 8 won the NFCS and Atlanta was 7 - 10.

TE Kyle Pitts is 23 and WR Drake London is 22, RB Bijan Robinson is 21 and RB Tyler Allgeier is 23.

Steve Belichick will join him because Mayo is interviewing for the job that SB had.

Dont be shocked to see BB in the 2024 playoffs.

 

[festy1986]

BB will have McDaniels and possibly Kirk Cousins. 9 - 8 won the NFCS and Atlanta was 7 - 10.

TE Kyle Pitts is 23 and WR Drake London is 22, RB Bijan Robinson is 21 and RB Tyler Allgeier is 23.

Steve Belichick will join him because Mayo is interviewing for the job that SB had.

Dont be shocked to see BB in the 2024 playoffs.

Well that I agree with but I was thinking more about Superbowls.

Kraft obviously wouldn't be able to live down both Bill and Tom winning Superbowls after both essentially being fired.

 

[signbabybrady]

Not his fault. Kraft did not ask for the impasse between Brady and BB.

If BK kept Brady, BB was gone.

BB seemingly put up with a lot of Kraft crap post Brady I see no reason that Kraft stepping in would force out BB.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Same as the Red Sox you need to be successful within the budget laid out for you. Hopefully the Kraft's open up their wallet but either way it's not an excuse many are even going to be aware of.

The Red Sox have nesn, they finish in last place and they still make more money than 3/4 of the league. Now that’s cheap. Will never watch another Red Sox game until either Henry sells or he starts forking out again as he should.

 

[signbabybrady]

The Red Sox have nesn, they finish in last place and they still make more money than 3/4 of the league. Now that’s cheap. Will never watch another Red Sox game until either Henry sells or he starts forking out again as he should.

Mostly agree. I don't watch quite as much as I used to but that's for a lot of reasons. I'll never completely quit though.

The one thing I can defend them on slightly is that they did pay out for a long time and brought multiple championships and then for whatever reasons people started leaving baseball in droves so their reward other than the trophies wound up being a declining fan base so I can almost understand them tightening up in response but like you said they still make way too much for this.

 

[Real fan 02]

Key question: WHO was unwilling?

We'll never really know...

 

[upstater1]

One positive thing was Kraft made it a point to say the Pats had a lot cap space when they had the press conference to announce Mayo.

Personally, even if the people who think over the years it was more Kraft than Belichick who was cheap and wouldn’t spend, I expect Kraft to spend in free agency even if it is only to give the appearance that Belichick was the one who never spent in free agency and Kraft would have bankrolled him if he wanted.

The whole team philosophy might change.

The reason the Patriots never got into cap trouble (until the end '20) is that they spent money on a strong middle class, no weak links on the field, instead of superstars. With the stars, you give them a lot of guaranteed money, and when things go bad, you're on the hook. Sure, you might pay mediocre or decent players a high salary, but they don't have the guarantees that linger after they're done. This is why it appeared the Patriots weren't paying up.

One thing that's unappreciated about the previous approach is that players who had good years were always given bonuses at the end of the year which served 2 purposes. It incentivized players to play better in the hopes that they'd be given those bonuses (this is a corporate approach to football), even if the metrics used seemed unattainable. And it allowed the Patriots to spend to the cap and thereby open more spending money for the following year.

If you change your organizational approach, those 2 dynamics are gone.

 

[TomPatriot]

BB will have McDaniels and possibly Kirk Cousins. 9 - 8 won the NFCS and Atlanta was 7 - 10.

TE Kyle Pitts is 23 and WR Drake London is 22, RB Bijan Robinson is 21 and RB Tyler Allgeier is 23.

Steve Belichick will join him because Mayo is interviewing for the job that SB had.

Dont be shocked to see BB in the 2024 playoffs.

Or Harbaugh.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Kraft is right that they need to build through the draft. They haven't spent money on many prior draft picks because they weren't worthy. This season do you guys feel they should spend on Owenu (who probably wants T money) and Dugger who could score big deals?

 

[mgteich]

Kraft is right that they need to build through the draft. They haven't spent money on many prior draft picks because they weren't worthy. This season do you guys feel they should spend on Owenu (who probably wants T money) and Dugger who could score big deals?

The open question is how much Kraft is willing to defer into future years. As of now, the patriots defer much less than most.

This is the issue whether we are discussing free agents or extensions. A $20M AAV player can easily be only $7M under the 2024 cap, or even less.
==========
If the value was there, we could sign FOUR $20M a year free agents for a relatively small portion of our 2024 cap (say $25M-$30M).

I agree that the value may not be there. In that case, trades for such players may be in order, or extensions.
===========
The BOTTON LINE is that we greatly reduce the quality of the present team by not pushing more of the compensation into the future.

 

[TheRainMaker]

The open question is how much Kraft is willing to defer into future years. As of now, the patriots defer much less than most.

This is the issue whether we are discussing free agents or extensions. A $20M AAV player can easily be only $7M under the 2024 cap, or even less.

The question remains, would you be willing to shell out big bucks for these guys?

 

[ctpatsfan77]

True, except in one respect, the NFL has a salary cap, so every signing is documented and scrutinized.

And equally importantly, there's a cap floor. For 2024 to 2026 combined, teams must have cash spending equal to at least 90% of their cap space for those three years (it used to be 89%).

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Kraft is right that they need to build through the draft. They haven't spent money on many prior draft picks because they weren't worthy. This season do you guys feel they should spend on Owenu (who probably wants T money) and Dugger who could score big deals?

A lot of them weren't, but the Patriots decided a number of them (e.g., Joe Thuney) weren't worth what other teams were willing to offer.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The reason the Patriots never got into cap trouble (until the end '20) is that they spent money on a strong middle class, no weak links on the field, instead of superstars. With the stars, you give them a lot of guaranteed money, and when things go bad, you're on the hook. Sure, you might pay mediocre or decent players a high salary, but they don't have the guarantees that linger after they're done. This is why it appeared the Patriots weren't paying up.

As I have said both here and on Reddit, if you want to say Kraft and/or the Patriots are reluctant/unwilling to write huge checks to individual players, that's a perfectly valid criticism.

But it's not reasonable to say that they're "cheap" and trying to pocket salary cap cash. At no point have they elected to use the one means they have for keeping salary cap cash (not rolling over leftover cap space). [It should also go without saying that the teams that have the highest cash spending over the last couple of years also have the least free cap space over the next couple of years; it feels sometimes like some folks want the Patriots to both spend the most and have the most cap space in future years. . . .]