Meddling Owners: How does Kraft Rank?

[Real fan 02]

The Kraft's own the team so it is their right to manage it as they see fit. If they are involved in football decisions they should at least be open about their involvement. Publicly stating that they don't get involved while controlling things behind the scene is not a good model. If things go wrong they have plausible deniability if things go well they can take credit. Mayo and Wolf are in terrible positions.

Not so sure mayo and wolf are in terrible situations. Both men can walk away at any time voiding thier contracts if things got really bad wich I don't forsee.. Wolfe is GM in name only likely until after the draft. Mayo's young he isn't beholden to ownership like say judge or Patricia were to Bill. Mayo's an alpha who knows if it does not work here he has options.

This is how the organization operates without Bill.. getting the draft right, and how the team performs going forward is really what's going to matter IMO..

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Not so sure mayo and wolf are in terrible situations. Both men can walk away at any time voiding thier contracts if things got really bad wich I don't forsee.. Wolfe is GM in name only likely until after the draft. Mayo's young he isn't beholden to ownership like say judge or Patricia were to Bill. Mayo's an alpha who knows if it does not work here he has options.

This is how the organization operates without Bill.. getting the draft right, and how the team performs going forward is really what's going to matter IMO..

Terrible is probably a bit strong, it is another situation where no one outside of the organization knows the full truth. If everything goes well, everything goes away. As you say both Wolf and Mayo are well positioned in life and will be ok if things go the other way. The terrible position applies to their continued employment by the Pats and potential damage to their reputation as professionals. Even in the best of circumstances both, Mayo especially, have a lot to deal with. Being put in the position where they will succeed or fail based on someone else's decisions only makes it more difficult.

 

[Real fan 02]

Terrible is probably a bit strong, it is another situation where no one outside of the organization knows the full truth. If everything goes well, everything goes away. As you say both Wolf and Mayo are well positioned in life and will be ok if things go the other way. The terrible position applies to their continued employment by the Pats and potential damage to their reputation as professionals. Even in the best of circumstances both, Mayo especially, have a lot to deal with. Being put in the position where they will succeed or fail based on someone else's decisions only makes it more difficult.

I agree. Yes being that Mayo himself has generational wealth and Wolfe I'm sure doesn't have to worry about making his mortgage payments as his father was in the NFL. So to your point.. being in a position to succeed or fail is pivotal. I've made mention before that the organization wants to contend as well as grow the QB.. most organizations have an entire team to restructure we just have the offense most notably QB to focus on primarily. We gave a ready-made championship level defense thst will keep us in every game. So Wolfe & Mayo collectively need to get the QB right Thursday for sure!

 

[condon84]

Way more involved than people think.

 

[mgteich]

BEFORE BRADY LEFT
Kraft was very, very low on the scale

DURING THE FOUR YEAR TRANSITION
Kraft was somewhat in the middle, given that these 4 years were clearly critical to the direction of the franchise.

Kraft allowed the hiring of Patricia and Judge to run the Offense. I would think that many owners would have stepped in and stopped this, especially after the OL's moves that clearly didn't work during camp and the pre-season.

Kraft didn't even step in after the 2022 season, having seen just how bad the Offense was becoming. He put BB on a very short leash.

Yes, the 2023 season was a total disaster at all levels. And yes, Kraft stepped in much; but he was just too late. I suppose that BB could have been fired after the game in Germany, but there was no one to put in charge. He acted after the season, a year too late.

BOTTOM LINE
I think that Kraft was not an active enough boss during the transition. BB should have been fired after the 2022 season. For me, that is NOT being an interfering boss; it is simply being the boss.

 

[lancerman]

BEFORE BRADY LEFT
Kraft was very, very low on the scale

DURING THE FOUR YEAR TRANSITION
Kraft was somewhat in the middle, given that these 4 years were clearly critical to the direction of the franchise.

Kraft allowed the hiring of Patricia and Judge to run the Offense. I would think that many owners would have stepped in and stopped this, especially after the OL's moves that clearly didn't work during camp and the pre-season.

Kraft didn't even step in after the 2022 season, having seen just how bad the Offense was becoming. He put BB on a very short leash.

Yes, the 2023 season was a total disaster at all levels. And yes, Kraft stepped in much; but he was just too late. I suppose that BB could have been fired after the game in Germany, but there was no one to put in charge. He acted after the season, a year too late.

BOTTOM LINE
I think that Kraft was not an active enough boss during the transition. BB should have been fired after the 2022 season. For me, that is NOT being an interfering boss; it is simply being the boss.

Honestly I just have way too much of a hard time reconciling the amount of control Bill Belichick had an the decisions he was allowed to make and Robert Kraft being viewed as a meddling owner. No other coach in the league had remotely the same total control of football ops. Even in the four year transition, I'd really like to see the coach that had more autonomy than Bill Belichick on runninh his football team.

 

[raduray]

That's not good news IMO.

Savage is a bomb thrower, trolling for clicks. We've had one report of Jonathan being "heavily involved". What does that even mean? Alternatively, are we really expecting the Krafts to just sit back and watch the draft play out on ESPN? If I owned the team I'd want to understand and monitor the process. That's not the same thing as making the calls.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

Not so sure mayo and wolf are in terrible situations. Both men can walk away at any time voiding thier contracts if things got really bad wich I don't forsee.. Wolfe is GM in name only likely until after the draft. Mayo's young he isn't beholden to ownership like say judge or Patricia were to Bill. Mayo's an alpha who knows if it does not work here he has options.

This is how the organization operates without Bill.. getting the draft right, and how the team performs going forward is really what's going to matter IMO..

If the Patriots fail this season, Mayo will be the Fall Guy, even if it is the Krafts who screw up. So far the off season has been pathetic; unless the draft is spectacular, Mayo is in trouble as is Wolf. When you lose, every coaching decision is micro-analyzed and endlessly harped on by the media. If you do not have the players (Mayo not does currently have them), then the coach gets blamed for poor performance on the field.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

Savage is a bomb thrower, trolling for clicks. We've had one report of Jonathan being "heavily involved". What does that even mean? Alternatively, are we really expecting the Krafts to just sit back and watch the draft play out on ESPN? If I owned the team I'd want to understand and monitor the process. That's not the same thing as making the calls.

I agree; we are over-reacting to a simple post. Savage's post is rude and offensive.

All this foolishness should be answered in a few days time, well, actually, no. We will not know how good the draft is until the end of training camp, at least. After the draft, the "experts" will rate each teams haul, but those ratings seem pretty worthless to me (I suppose I should dig up some old post-draft rating and see if they are accurate).

In camp last year, it was pretty obvious that the Patriots had a good draft with Gonzo, Keion White, and Pop Douglas. But who could have seen what a disaster the season turned out to be.

 

[Real fan 02]

If the Patriots fail this season, Mayo will be the Fall Guy, even if it is the Krafts who screw up. So far the off season has been pathetic; unless the draft is spectacular, Mayo is in trouble as is Wolf. When you lose, every coaching decision is micro-analyzed and endlessly harped on by the media. If you do not have the players (Mayo not does currently have them), then the coach gets blamed for poor performance on the field.

That's true. However I believe Mayo's got time on his side. The organization knows just had bad it was the last couple of seasons. So I believe Mayo's got some time to acclimate as HC and development of the QB will be pivotal. I believe some of the criticism is premature as we haven't even played a down yet. Having one guy control everything for so long is different from having a collaborative approach. Collaboration is what basically every NFL organization does these days. On the roster we have a ready-made championship level defense IMO. It's about getting adequate play from the most important position in sports.

I'm convinced if we are a middling offense say 15th, or 16th even . We are likely a playoff team with this defense.

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

That's true. However I believe Mayo's got time on his side. The organization knows just had bad it was the last couple of seasons. So I believe Mayo's got some time to acclimate as HC and development of the QB will be pivotal. I believe some of the criticism is premature as we haven't even played a down yet. Having one guy control everything for so long is different from having a collaborative approach. Collaboration is what basically every NFL organization does these days. On the roster we have a ready-made championship level defense IMO. It's about getting adequate play from the most important position in sports.

I'm convinced if we are a middling offense say 15th, or 16th even . We are likely a playoff team with this defense.

I have to agree with you. The defense was really good last year so there is hope if the draft is well managed this year.

Another encouraging sign was that there we no draft day disasters last year; the top picks were excellent. Sure we whiffed on Puka Nacua, but so did everyone else until the end of round 5. No more Cole Strange / Tyquon Thornton types picks last year so maybe....

 

[Real fan 02]

I have to agree with you. The defense was really good last year so there is hope if the draft is well managed this year.

Another encouraging sign was that there we no draft day disasters last year; the top picks were excellent. Sure we whiffed on Puka Nacua, but so did everyone else until the end of round 5. No more Cole Strange / Tyquon Thornton types picks last year so maybe....

It's almost like when it comes to WR'S it seemed intentionally done not to get talented guys. We absolutely are terrible at drafting WR'S. Seemed like everyone can except us. We can all agree we need the QB.. now my question is whatever QB we select will he be starting week 1?

 

[patman12]

Way more involved than people think.

Maybe but there's no evidence to suggest it at this point. Being "heavily involved in the decision" making seems like it falls into a wide range of actions, from the staff running personnel decisions by him to be on the same page to JK making all of the final decisions on which players to bring into the organization.

I hope it's not the latter but I really don't have enough information from one tweet to say it's worst case...yet.

 

[Real fan 02]

BEFORE BRADY LEFT
Kraft was very, very low on the scale

DURING THE FOUR YEAR TRANSITION
Kraft was somewhat in the middle, given that these 4 years were clearly critical to the direction of the franchise.

Kraft allowed the hiring of Patricia and Judge to run the Offense. I would think that many owners would have stepped in and stopped this, especially after the OL's moves that clearly didn't work during camp and the pre-season.

Kraft didn't even step in after the 2022 season, having seen just how bad the Offense was becoming. He put BB on a very short leash.

Yes, the 2023 season was a total disaster at all levels. And yes, Kraft stepped in much; but he was just too late. I suppose that BB could have been fired after the game in Germany, but there was no one to put in charge. He acted after the season, a year too late.

BOTTOM LINE
I think that Kraft was not an active enough boss during the transition. BB should have been fired after the 2022 season. For me, that is NOT being an interfering boss; it is simply being the boss.

Very, very interesting post. You are correct on all.

Judging by RKs past comments at the owners meetings seemingly becuase Bill had brung him 6 Lombardis, and basically help generate billions for his franchise. He felt Bill had earned the right to do things his way.

We do know that coaching decision was disastrous, Bill himself was even heard Making comments on judge and Patricia when meeting with Falcons brass that they were better soldiers than generals.

We could see all during the 2023 season thst by bills body language that this was the end. The steady decline from 2021 on.. the QB bungling, 4-13.. embarrassing losses, totally putrid offensive performances..

 

[signbabybrady]

It's almost like when it comes to WR'S it seemed intentionally done not to get talented guys. We absolutely are terrible at drafting WR'S. Seemed like everyone can except us. We can all agree we need the QB.. now my question is whatever QB we select will he be starting week 1?

There was certainly some intent based on the fact that we didn't draft them as high as often as some other teams like the Steelers for example.

 

[Real fan 02]

There was certainly some intent based on the fact that we didn't draft them as high as often as some other teams like the Steelers for example.

Exactly correct, I wonder does this model change this draft? The Steelers seem to be a haven for WRs.

 

[Boston Boxer]

Kraft is an after the fact statement maker and blame thrower. He should be more involved but would rather place the blame on things he had control over on others. The way he treated BB on the way out is unprofessional

 

[Thelonious]

I am sick to death of this "meddling" nonsense. It's his team: he can say whatever he wants, whenever he wants. I see NO evidence - I never have - that he has done anything untoward in his respect. People just like to whine about people more successful than they. I find that pathetic and unworthy. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves, but of course you're too insecure for that sort of thing.

 

[signbabybrady]

I am sick to death of this "meddling" nonsense. It's his team: he can say whatever he wants, whenever he wants. I see NO evidence - I never have - that he has done anything untoward in his respect. People just like to whine about people more successful than they. I find that pathetic and unworthy. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves, but of course you're too insecure for that sort of thing.

Kraft telling Brady he'd facilitate letting him leave if he wanted to seems meddlesome to me.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I had a feeling Jonathan has been behind the scenes trying to take over for his Dad.

Are you saying he is trying a reach around?