Kraft and Owners Wants 18 Game Schedule
It isn’t bad enough that the League is starting the season on a Wednesday Night this year, followed by a Thursday Night game in Australia. Robert Kraft made it clear that the owners want an 18 Game Schedule. Kraft went on to say that three conditions must be met: 1.) Add an extra bye week, 2.) Every Team plays an International Game (presumably followed by a Bye Week), and 3.) Elimination of the 3rd Pre-Season Game, which no starters play in anyway.
I would add several other stipulations, some benefitting the players and some the owners.
- No Wednesday Night games. Recovering from a Sunday game and having to play on Thursday is bad enough. Making that a day earlier is ridiculous. You can do it for the opening of the season because teams have had months to prepare for the game.
- No change in the 50/50 Distribution. Players will still receive their 50% of the shared money.
- Salary Cap will remain in place, but the structure will change. There will be a cap on salaries by position, a redistribution of the wealth amongst the common players who bear the brunt of the 18-game schedule.
- The floor, or minimum a team must spend will be raised significantly to help accomplish this.
- The Veteran Minimum salary will be raised accordingly to promote a fairer distribution of the money available to the players as compensation for an 18- game schedule
Salary Cap Increases Nearly Doubles in 10 years
I have always said the NFL is a license to print money. In the last decade, the Salary Cap has gone from $167M in 2017 to $301.2M in 2026. That is an additional $140+M profit for each Franchise. That increase is nearly double what the salary cap was in 2017. This increased profit was realized by expanding the brand to foreign countries, increasing broadcast revenues by expanding to satellite and online subscription services, and getting in bed with legal gambling companies. You might ask why do they need an 18th game on the schedule? The answer is to simply make more money.
Draft Needs Versus Draft Strengths and Weaknesses (Part 2)
Wide Receiver – The Patriots have three receivers entering their contract year in Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas, and Kayshon Boutte. Hollins will be 33 this season and I expect this will be his last in the league. Pop Douglas may have a hard time making this roster. He is very limited in what he can do because of his size. He really doesn’t fit the Josh McDaniels role for the slot receiver, and I could see him being overtaken in the rotation. Stephon Diggs really cut into Douglas’ playing time. Kayshon Boutte made some spectacular plays and is a very reliable deep threat, but his play tailed off as the season wore on. This draft has a very good amount of receivers. Is taking a receiver a priority? No, the Patriots have Romeo Doubs and Kyle Williams. They are still rumored to be a trade partner for AJ Brown after June 1st. Efton Chism showed some promise as a UDFA. His lack of speed is the only thing holding him back. I could see the Patriots taking a slot receiver and a speedy X receiver in the draft with all the picks (11) they have, especially on Day Three.
Backup Guard and Tackle – Mike Onwenu will turn 29 in December and is entering his contract year. He will be a UFA in 2027. Alijah Vera-Tucker has missed 3 of the last 4 seasons with injuries. Signing him was a big risk in Free Agency that could pay off handsomely or could blow up in their faces. I’m not satisfied that Ben Brown is the backup Left Guard. Caeden Wallace is the backup Right Guard, and James Hudson is the Swing Tackle. Let’s not forget last year’s 7th round selection, Marcus Bryant, is right now the backup Right Tackle. Thayer Munford is presently an Unrestricted Free Agent. He is recovering from an off-season medical procedure and is not yet healthy enough to sign with anyone. Could the Patriots go into the year with the linemen they presently have as backups? Yes, but an upgrade is always welcome, as is competition for roster spots. Brown can fill two positions as backup Center and Left Guard. Do the Patriots look for insurance for Vera-Tucker and/or a replacement for Onwenu? The Patriots have been linked to several Guards in the Draft.
Running Back – The Patriots are thin at running back after releasing Antonio Gibson. They do have a promising UDFA, Lan Larison, coming back after a season-long IR. Terrell Jennings was also hurt last year, and he returns. Veteran Elijah Mitchell was also retained through a Futures contract. Is that enough? Running back is not a strength of this draft, but I do expect the team to draft a Day 3 Runningback for competition and depth.
Quarterback – With the release of Joahua Dobbs, the Patriots will need to add at least one QB in the draft and possibly one veteran QB through Free Agency. Perhaps another rookie UDFA will be added as a camp arm. I didn’t do much research on QBs until the recent release of Dobbs. The player I keep coming back to is QB Haynes King of Georgia Tech. He is just 6’2” 215 pounds but runs a 4.46 40-yard dash and a 6.89 3-cone drill. King is a legitimate dual threat
In 2025, he was ACC Offensive Player of the Year and first-team All-ACC. Finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (given to the nation’s top upperclassman QB) and Manning Award (nation’s top QB, including postseason). Led the team with 953 rushing yards (185 carries, 5.2) and 15 rushing TDs. Also in 2025, he had 12 games started (252-361-69.8, 2,951 yards, 14 TDs, 6 INTs passing). Two-time Team captain. Set school single-season records with 3,920 yards of total offense and 252 completions. Set school career records with 674 completions and by completing 67.6% of his passes. For his career at Georgia Tech he had 34 career starts. Another local product is UConn QB Joe Fagnano. He is more your prototypical NFL QB, especially with his size. I did see a little of him at the Combine, and I thought he was erratic. Just the type of player to bring into camp as a UDFA.
Cornerback – Last season, Carlton Davis never missed a game. That is the 1st time in his 8-year career that he has played a full season. In December, he will turn 30. Although Cornerback is not a high priority, finding a developmental type Corner should be one of the team’s selections in the upcoming draft. Charles Woods filled in admirably for Christian Gonzalez when Alex Austin failed miserably when given the starting nod for Gonzalez. Woods was an Undrafted Free Agent who made the Los Angeles Rams 53-man roster out of camp in 2024. The Patriots claimed him on Roster cutdown day. His PFF Grade was 57.1 but didn’t have enough snaps to qualify for a ranking. If any of the starters go down, I don’t feel confident that Woods would be a long-term solution. Kindle Vildor was signed as veteran insurance, and his PFF grade was slightly better than Woods’ at 59.3.
Patriots to be Featured on Hard Knocks
This would never happen in the Bill Belichick era. The NFL announced at the league meeting on Monday that the Patriots will be the stars of the Training Camp version of the Hard Knocks show this summer. Mike Vrabel is always entertaining with the media and should be the star of the show. Vrabel is always itching to get in there and mix it up with the players. I think this will be a fascinating look inside the Patriots organization and way they conduct their business. Also, the new Training facility is scheduled to open this spring, so I think the Kraft’s would like the opportunity to show off their new toy. Especially to any potential Free Agents. For years, the Krafts have received low grades in the NFLPA Players Survey. They improved this year with Mike Vrabel at the helm, and having the new facility, weight room, lockers, cafeteria, and food choices should ingratiate the players.
I have always liked the Hard Knocks show from the days of Rex Ryan wanting to go and get a snack to the discovery of “7-11” Chris Hogan when he played for the Dolphins. Why did they name him “7-11”, because he was always open! Another player I discovered watching on Hard Knocks was Danny Woodhead, playing for the Jets in 2010. They featured him and his journey from DII Chadron State in 2010. Note: I still have my Woodhead replica jersey and actually own several Danny Woodhead, Chadron State Football cards.
I thought Mike Vrabel’s reaction was precious when asked about appearing on Hard Knocks. He simply stated, “Can’t wait.” I bet you can’t, that will be must-see TV.
Head Coach Mike Vrabel Speaks at Owners Meetings
Vrabel had some interesting comments about Christian Gonzalez’s future with the team and wants to see his extension done quickly. The Patriots have exercised his 5th year option, which is a no-brainer. Vrabel wants to see Gonzalez stay as a linchpin to the Patriots’ defense for years to come.
When asked about DeMario Douglas he stated “(Pop) needs to get more involved …we have to try and find a way to get him the ball”. I find this interesting since in the earlier segment, I thought that Douglas might be on the bubble. This statement seems to back Douglas as a key contributor in the Offense plans for the 2026 season. I felt that Stefon Diggs robbed Douglas of snaps and the chance to be a bigger contributor in the Offense.
On Harold Landry’s recovery, “ Harold continues to rehab. You know, I’m just disappointed, obviously, for him and for us, because I’ve known Harold for quite a while. You know, a player I became really close with. We drafted him in Tennessee, and he did a great job for us there. And it’s unfortunate. I think that anybody who watched the tape could see Harold before hurting his knee, and then after. And so another player that cares deeply about the team, and his performance, and the impact that he makes. And so I was disappointed for him, but he, like everything else, works his tail off right now to get back. And so I don’t really know where it’s at right now because he’s going through the rehab process. With that being said, we’ll continue to strengthen each and every position, whether that’s the interior of the defensive line, that’s the edge, inside linebacker. So again, I like the guys that we have, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to try to add to that position.”
When asked about the brand new, shiny New Balance Training Facility, he said: “Well, just from an efficiency standpoint, I think it’s, from an energy, I think when our players come in on April 20th, I think there’s going to be an energy. They’re going to enjoy coming to work just from how nice it is, the functionality, the space, all those types of things. Be a great place for learning, great place to develop our players. And just the weight room to the training room to the locker room, cafeteria, just the meeting space that we have is going to be really nice.” This will be a plus in the next year’s NFLPA survey of each team. The Patriots have improved but there is a ways to go. The Survey will not be available to the media next year, but I am sure it will get leaked out at some point. When the NFLPA released the results of its annual Team Report Card from the 2023 season the Patriots received a “D” grade for weight room, a “C-” grade for training room, and a “B” grade for nutrition. The only team that scored worse in the weight room category was the Arizona Cardinals (“F”).
Looming NFL Officials Strike
The NFL Officials do not have a new contract in place for 2026 yet. They are looking for something similar to what Major League Baseball has in Full Time Officials. The League is preparing a plan if the Officials union does not have a new contact by the time the season is ready to start. That would probably mean Replacement Officials. More oversight by the league to make the critical calls on the field is one proposal, speeding up the challenges or changing calls as needed by the eye in the sky official.
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Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.
