BB and P Carroll both explicitly said that RK is cheap. In a court of law, BB and Pete would be considered expert witnesses because they are experts in their field and knew the inner workings behind the scenes. So we can say for sure that RK was considered cheap by his lead managers (expert witnesses) for 27 years. Your point is that there is no direct evidence up to this point for the last 2 years. 27 versus 2. Not a strong point for you to open with.
Yes the collective bargaining agreement requires a minimum spend. Kraft commonly under spent for a few years and then would spend big for 1 year. BB highlighted this pattern. I am not sure that repeating the pattern, as you note, is supporting your argument. The Pats were under the cap in '24, '25, and '26 by $35M, $47M, and $18M respectively. Again I am not seeing a lot of support for your position but the cap and cash spend are different, so maybe.
Again the state-of-the-art training facility was built only after 20+ years of limited facility upgrades. Same pattern. Did you see the players abysmal yearly ratings on the facilities and travel? The Pats planes' interiors will be upgraded in the next few years and then we are supposed to be impressed. The upgrades are late and normal business reinvestments. RK just sold 8% of the Pats for $700M, I don't think he is hurting.
So it is clever to be cheap? How successful would the Pats have been if the team had been clever AND NOT cheap? We will never know.
I do not see it that way. Gonzo is asking for what almost all great players get, what McDuffie and Witherspoon just got, to be paid slightly more than the last guy. The Panthers announced they were going to sign M Williams but he signed here because, at the last minute, we offered more money. Gonzo is asking for the same thing Williams got. It is normal. Williams will be happy for Gonzo. I will be happy for Gonzo. Seems like you will regret a market level contract for Gonzo.
Pete Carroll was so early on, the relevance to BB and after is zero. Kraft's understanding of being an ownerer was different.
Belichick never directly called Kraft cheap, but he did publicly point out that the Patriots were one of the lowest cash-spending teams in the league. Once Kraft aggressively pushed back and denied setting limits, Belichick changed his tune, stating on the record that low cash spending was actually the correct football strategy to maintain a healthy salary cap
Since BB left they are spending. They roll the cap forward, and have only 18 million going into this yera and the highest cap spend of any team, How is that being cheap, they rolled it forward and spent most of it?
He's Rich, yay! not sure the relevance. Other owners are Rich and snce BB left he's sent more than almost all of them factoring in player salaries, the building, the increased staffing.
More successful than a Super Bowl appearance every other year? You mean more Adalius Thomas signings and less Mike Vravel like signings? They may have been less successful. Thye may have been more, they may have been the same, another irrelevant point.
Personally, I believed they would sign him and they should sign him, it is just what has to be done.
Him not signing had nothing to do with Kraft being cheap. It's called negotiations.
Now that he signed, I assume the new response from the Kraft is cheap despite no evidence crowd is he had no choice? He was backed into a corner? Yeah right, as I pointed out the Patriots had some leverage to.
