NEW ARTICLE: TRANSCRIPT: Patriots Owner Robert Kraft at the Owner’s Meetings 3/26

[PatsFans.com Article]

TRANSCRIPT: Patriots Owner Robert Kraft at the Owner’s Meetings 3/26
Ian Logue
Here's the full transcript of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's meeting with the media on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.

The post TRANSCRIPT: Patriots Owner Robert Kraft at the Owner’s Meetings 3/26 appeared first on PatsFans.com.

Continue reading...

(If you enjoyed this entry - hit the Thumbs Up/If not, hit the Thumbs down in this thread)

 

[jmt57]

"As a foundation, if you want to win consistently, you have to draft well and then get those players on the second contract."​

The bolded portion above is something that has been vastly overlooked, in my opinion.

A couple weeks ago @Ian noted that this year was the first time that the Pats re-signed one of their own early picks (i.e., drafted in the first three rounds), since re-signing Duron Harmon in 2017. The majority of the conversation regarding that fact focused on how many early round whiffs took place in that time frame. Harmon was drafted in 2013 and Dugger, Uche and Jennings were drafted in 2020. Some of the early picks in between include Dominique Easley, Jordan Richards, Geneo Grissom, Cyrus Jones, Vincent Valentine, Derek Rivers, Antonio Garcia, Duke Dawson, N'Keal Harry, Joejuan Williams, Yodny Cajuste, Devin Asiasi, Dalton Keene, etc. Not a pretty picture.

But as @Wozzy pointed out to me, there were also several good players from early picks that never made it to a second contract with the Patriots. For example, Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins, Logan Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo, Malcom Brown, Joe Thuney and Jacoby Brissett all signed good contracts elsewhere after departing Foxborough. So while draft results may be underwhelming in recent years, another important consideration should be the inability to re-sign their own players. Indeed, each of the players listed above had his own unique situation - but the bottom line is that the Pats have had an abysmal track record of retaining their own players.