Greg Bedard and Nick Cattles give their thoughts on Robert Kraft's press conference at the league meetings. Kraft ruffled feathers with many of his answers, and avoided some questions entirely. Could it be time for Jonathan Kraft to take the podium in these media appearances?
EPISODE TIMELINE:
00:20 - Kraft on Wolf’s future
04:30 - Calvin Ridley’s Decision
08:45 - Kraft on QB at #3
13:52 - PrizePicks
14:52 - Playoff Expectations
18:38 - NFLPA Survey
20:15 - Johnathan Kraft’s role
25:37 - Workout Facility
27:50 - Kraft’s thoughts on The Dynasty
30:20 - Kraft dodging Belichick question
32:53 - NFL Rule Changes
Check Greg's Coverage out over at www.bostonsportsjournal.com, for $50 on BSJ's annual plan. Not only do you get top-notch analysis of all the Boston pro sports, but if you're a Patriots junkie — and if you're listening to this podcast, you are — then a membership at BSJ gives you access to a ton of video analysis Bedard does on the coaches film, and direct access to him in weekly chats.
This episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles is brought to you by:
PrizePicks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!
EPISODE TIMELINE:
00:20 - Kraft on Wolf’s future
04:30 - Calvin Ridley’s Decision
08:45 - Kraft on QB at #3
13:52 - PrizePicks
14:52 - Playoff Expectations
18:38 - NFLPA Survey
20:15 - Johnathan Kraft’s role
25:37 - Workout Facility
27:50 - Kraft’s thoughts on The Dynasty
30:20 - Kraft dodging Belichick question
32:53 - NFL Rule Changes
Check Greg's Coverage out over at www.bostonsportsjournal.com, for $50 on BSJ's annual plan. Not only do you get top-notch analysis of all the Boston pro sports, but if you're a Patriots junkie — and if you're listening to this podcast, you are — then a membership at BSJ gives you access to a ton of video analysis Bedard does on the coaches film, and direct access to him in weekly chats.
This episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles is brought to you by:
PrizePicks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!
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SportsTranscript
00:00 This is the Greg Bidard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.
00:08 Do us a favor if you like the pod, want to support it, go over to prize pick, sign up
00:12 using that code CLNS and that will help us tremendously.
00:17 Yesterday, Greg, we had Gerard Mayo with the media.
00:21 Earlier today, it was Robert Kraft's turn to hang out with you guys this morning.
00:26 And I want to start with what Kraft had to say about Elliot Wolfe's fate.
00:30 There was something that he said that bugged me a little bit.
00:33 He said, we'll evaluate the draft, see how that's gone, go from there.
00:40 What are your thoughts about that approach?
00:46 I hate it.
00:47 I mean, look, everybody knows everybody listening to this pod, you, me, everybody else, every
00:53 Patriots fan in the country, in the world knows that this offseason from the free agency
01:00 with the cap space that they had to this draft with the number three overall pick and whatever
01:05 they do with it, whether it's a quarterback or they trade down and they get plenty of
01:09 picks and they basically, you know, stockpile players, start bringing in young players that
01:16 are going to be the foundation of this franchise going forward.
01:22 Everything is on this offseason.
01:24 And so if now, look, I will say maybe Kraft is just playing coy, which Mayo did not do
01:32 basically when he slipped up and called Elliot Wolfe, the general manager, and then was like,
01:38 oh, well, you know, whatever he is.
01:41 You know, perhaps Kraft, who's certainly been around the block a few more times than Gerard
01:47 Mayo, I'm hoping that he was just protecting the franchise for the Rooney rule and all
01:55 that stuff.
01:56 And they'll get to that at some point in time.
01:59 But if he's being truthful that this is like a trial run for Elliot Wolfe, which I don't
02:05 really believe because Alonzo Highsmith ain't coming here for a three month tryout, like
02:11 he's not doing all this work for a three month tryout.
02:14 He's coming he came here to be with his buddy, to be his right hand man, because Elliot Wolfe
02:20 knows that he's going to be the next guy and he's going to be here for a while.
02:23 And that's what I understand.
02:25 But if if there's any part of him that is being truthful that we need to see what they
02:30 do in the draft and that Elliot Wolfe, whatever he does in the draft, and then we'll decide
02:34 on his long term fate to me is just completely asinine and no way to run a franchise.
02:41 I think that Wolf will be here for the reasons that you brought up.
02:44 I don't think many of us believe he's going to be gone.
02:48 The issue I had with what Kraft said is it just makes zero sense.
02:52 How in the world can you evaluate anybody off the draft class within like two weeks
02:57 of the draft?
02:58 Like, right, it's going to take it.
03:01 It takes at least two years to look at a draft class, if not three and say, OK, that was
03:07 a really good class or that class was terrible.
03:09 So you're telling me based off the draft within the month after Kraft's going to be like,
03:14 you know what?
03:15 I really didn't like that.
03:16 Thirty fourth pick.
03:17 He's got to go.
03:18 Just it doesn't make any sense that it makes zero sense.
03:23 Related to one thing about that, and I don't know if we've mentioned it on the pod, but
03:28 there's a lot of chatter behind the scenes that Jonathan Kraft's son, I think his name
03:32 is Harry, who played like a cup of coffee, a football at Dartmouth.
03:40 And I think he was at one other college.
03:41 But there's been some chatter behind the scenes that he's going to be groomed to sort of be
03:48 a influential person in this franchise down the line.
03:52 And it just made me laugh what you were talking about.
03:54 Like, what are they going to go to Harry after the game and be like, did you like those draft
03:58 picks, Harry?
03:59 Like, you know, does he have the draft magazines out and then that's how they're going to determine
04:03 the fate of Elliott Wolfe?
04:04 Yes.
04:05 Harry is twenty seven years old, by the way.
04:07 So he's absolutely the guy that you want to check out, you know, his his thought process
04:11 on the draft.
04:12 And then that was really the second thing that I took from it was, OK, so Kraft is not
04:16 going to be involved with the football decisions.
04:19 He's going to let Wolfe run the draft, but then he's going to evaluate this draft within
04:23 weeks.
04:24 Is he talking to outside people?
04:26 Is he consulting with people?
04:27 Do those people want Wolfe's job?
04:29 It was just it was again, it made no sense to me.
04:32 All right, let's jump to Calvin Ridley.
04:35 Kraft said that Calvin Ridley's girlfriend was out on the idea of being here in New England.
04:41 Is that plausible to you?
04:44 Yeah, and it goes along with, you know, what I was reporting, you know, in real time when
04:50 the decision was coming down, I said that he really doesn't want to leave the Jaguars.
04:56 And, you know, I heard about his wife, that, you know, she's from the South.
05:00 She didn't want to leave the South at the end of the day.
05:02 And so the Titans, she's from Huntsville.
05:04 I think that's not far from Nashville.
05:07 So it made sense.
05:08 I just thought it was a huge misstep for Robert to bring this up.
05:18 You just look, you just don't bring family into it.
05:21 You don't bring I don't care if they're here, not here, whatever.
05:25 I'm sure Calvin Ridley is going to hear about this.
05:27 He's not going to be happy about it.
05:28 It's just it was just a big faux pas to me.
05:33 I didn't like it.
05:34 I also didn't like when he talked about that they were willing to go as far monetarily
05:41 as they had to do, had to to get the player if it came down to it.
05:46 Talked about the 10% difference in the tax.
05:49 Like, I'm sorry, I just don't believe that.
05:51 I don't I think the Patriots set a price on Calvin Ridley.
05:55 They valued the Elliott Wolf and company.
05:58 And I will bring up that.
06:01 Robert was quick to bring up Matt Groh today, which was interesting.
06:07 But whoever it is, the personnel triumvirate or whatever they're doing, I think they put
06:14 a valuation on the player on Calvin Ridley, a guy who's 30.
06:18 We all know about his issues.
06:19 And they said, all right, well, we'll go twenty two million dollars a year, 40 plus million
06:25 dollars guaranteed.
06:26 We think this is a really solid offer.
06:29 Here it is.
06:30 But to say they would have gone what, over 50 million dollars if Calvin Ridley was was
06:36 open to coming to New England.
06:39 I'm sorry again, I just don't believe it.
06:43 If you're willing to go there, then why didn't they go there and see if Ridley was trying
06:46 to pull a bluff?
06:49 So the reports were that the Patriots had the offer on the table.
06:52 They put the offer on the table.
06:54 They didn't move the offer off the table.
06:56 They didn't add to the offer.
06:57 They just put it there.
06:58 And then Tennessee parachuted in with their offer and it was game set match.
07:03 Well, if you're willing to account for the taxes and make an even bigger offer, then
07:09 why weren't you you know, why weren't you there in the end to try to match that?
07:14 What we heard was the offer was the offer, the offer, and they didn't budge from it.
07:17 So it's kind of strange if you're telling me you're willing to go that high, then you've
07:22 got nothing to lose to go that high if you've made that decision.
07:25 And if he picks Tennessee, it's actually even better, Greg, isn't it?
07:28 Like it's a it's a better selling point for Robert Kraft to come back and say, hey, we
07:33 put the same deal on the table.
07:34 We knew taxes.
07:36 We put that money.
07:37 We put that extra money into our offer to be fair to Calvin.
07:41 And Calvin chose Tennessee and it's free agency and them's the breaks.
07:44 So yeah, I think you're exactly right, Nick.
07:47 I mean, I think it would if it was factually true that they would have gone to the lengths
07:52 like I think it would make Kraft, especially with all the the criticism they're getting
07:57 as far as spending in some quarters for Kraft to come out there and say, look, we we we
08:06 made an initial offer.
08:07 The Titans came in.
08:09 We decided to go over that.
08:11 We offered them 60 million dollars guaranteed to our fifty five million dollars guaranteed
08:16 to to and he could say, you can go to the agent, you can go to the player and ask him.
08:23 We we offered to do that.
08:25 He declined because he wanted to remain in the south.
08:28 That would be very easy to do.
08:32 But he didn't do that because I don't believe they were going to go to those financial lengths.
08:37 When you talk about, you know, your intention to do something or you're willing to do something,
08:41 but you don't do it just gets a little hairy.
08:44 All right.
08:45 Let's talk about Kraft and the third pick.
08:49 Some people might not have taken from Kraft what he said, what I took from Kraft when
08:54 he said something, but it stood out to me.
08:57 Let's let's see if you feel the same way.
08:59 Kraft saying that as a fan, he'd like to see the Patriots pick a quarterback at number
09:04 three.
09:05 Now, I know he added more to this and said, but if you know, you never know how people
09:09 are going to act and they get desperate.
09:12 Did you have an issue with Kraft saying as a fan, he wants the quarterback at three?
09:20 Not really.
09:21 I just wonder if behind the scenes and, you know, sort of parsing the words that Kraft
09:26 had today about the quarterback and we're going to get a young quarterback and, you
09:30 know, blah, blah, blah.
09:32 To me has ownership basically told Elliott Wolf.
09:36 Yeah, you can trade down, but you better make sure that you get a quarterback at some point
09:42 and somebody that you believe in.
09:44 And so, no, I didn't mind him saying that.
09:47 I don't think it puts any any pressure on Elliott Wolf.
09:51 I think that Elliott Wolf is now that he has this shot, I think he's very confident in
09:57 what he's doing, where the evaluation will be at the end of the day.
10:02 And he's going to make his move.
10:04 Now, is it going to be at three, five, six, eight, eleven?
10:08 We don't know.
10:09 But I think they I think they will have a plan and he'll be confident in that he will
10:16 execute that plan.
10:17 I don't think this is the end of the world, but here's the issue I had with it.
10:21 I do think it's somewhat passive aggressive from Kraft, and I don't know if that was his
10:26 intention.
10:28 But when you say, hey, as a fan, I want the quarterback at three.
10:31 What you're telling us is you want the quarterback at three.
10:34 So, you know, Elliott Wolf, with the background that we just talked about, Greg, this is somebody
10:39 that is on a, quote unquote, lame duck contract, even though you and I both believe that he
10:44 will stay here long term.
10:47 It is somebody who technically is working for his gig.
10:50 And the owner comes out and he says, I'd love a quarterback at number three.
10:55 That one, I do think puts some pressure on Wolf because now he's going to deal with it.
11:01 Number two, it's unfair to Wolf in the front office in this way.
11:07 If Wolf drafts a quarterback at three, you and I know that certain people are going to
11:14 throw it out there and say, see, see, there it is.
11:18 Red herring.
11:19 We've been telling you from the very beginning, Jonathan Kraft, Robert Kraft are making these
11:23 decisions.
11:24 Kraft said down in Orlando that he wanted a quarterback at number three.
11:28 And what do you know?
11:30 Here's Elliott Wolf picking the quarterback at number three.
11:33 If that's the decision that Wolf makes, it throws that narrative into the ether and throws
11:39 more gasoline on the fire.
11:41 When to me, it's just Kraft should have said, we're leaving it up to Elliott in the front
11:46 office and what they do at three, what they do in the draft, that's all up to them.
11:51 I support them with whatever decision they make and we move forward by just putting it
11:56 out there, Greg.
11:57 It just feels to me that now Elliott is not going to look like his own man if he makes
12:01 that pick.
12:03 I do not disagree with that.
12:04 And I think it's a good point by you.
12:07 It sort of keeps pushing forward the narrative like about Mac Jones, how it wasn't Bill Belichick's
12:13 call.
12:14 It was the Kraft's call, which I can, I think is complete bull crap.
12:17 I always have, I know people who were in the room who were involved in that.
12:22 None of them have ever brought up Kraft's influence, but yes, his comment, it again,
12:30 again and, you know, the sort of the theme of, of Robert's press conference today.
12:35 And look, I have all the respect in the world for, for Robert Kraft and what he's done and
12:41 for the league and for New England and the football team and all that stuff.
12:46 And, but I thought today for him was definitely not his finest moment.
12:51 I thought he underwhelmed in a bunch of different areas and he's, he's now playing the hits.
12:58 He's, you know, he's trying to do what he always does, which is he wants to play to
13:04 us, you know, a certain part of the fan base or, or most of the fan base and get them excited
13:09 and talk about a quarter.
13:10 I'm going to put my fan hat on because he knows that probably most fans want a quarterback
13:16 at number three, they want that excitement and all that.
13:19 So he's going to play into it where really it's not the best thing for the franchise
13:23 for him to do that.
13:24 I think you're exactly right.
13:26 If he's, if he's interested in the franchise, getting things right and getting back on the
13:30 right track, the correct response would have been, look, I certainly have my preferences,
13:36 but that doesn't matter.
13:37 What matters is the football team and what's in the best interest of the football team.
13:42 And I have entrusted Elliot Wolf, Gerard Mayo, Matt Groh, Alonzo Highsmith to do that.
13:48 And they can do whatever they want because I know they have the best interest of the
13:52 football team at heart.
13:54 Football season may be over, but the action on the floor is heating up.
13:58 Whether it's a tournament season or the fight for a playoff home court, there's no shortage
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14:52 More from Kraft, Greg.
14:54 I know we took a step back after saying it, but he did mention the word playoffs today
15:00 when talking about his expectations.
15:04 What'd you make of that?
15:05 Was that a mistake?
15:07 Yes.
15:08 I mean, I just think the Patriots aren't anywhere near that.
15:13 Again, I think it's him playing the hits for what he thinks is a majority of the fan base.
15:22 I'm just being optimistic, and that's who I am, and that kind of stuff.
15:26 I understand that, but how can they go through the offseason that they just did?
15:33 I do think he had some valid points about that.
15:37 We didn't hear from Gerard Mayo as much yesterday about, "I thought it was interesting, and
15:42 it certainly perked my ears up a little bit," that he talked about when I sort of went back
15:48 at him, because he opened up saying about how excited he was and about the direction
15:53 that they're going and all this stuff.
15:55 I was like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa.
15:57 Wait a minute.
15:58 You say you're excited about what's going on.
16:00 A majority of the Patriots fans do not think they're not excited about what's going on.
16:05 If not, some of them are downright angry."
16:10 I think that him talking about playoffs, again, is just throwing a bone out there where it
16:16 would just be realistic.
16:17 Again, what I meant to finish my thought was him talking about there could be people available
16:23 in after the draft and cuts and trades and things like that.
16:28 I do think that that's part of their plan.
16:30 That's something that we've talked about, especially a wide receiver.
16:34 That was good to hear.
16:36 You can't go through, have all that cap space, do nothing.
16:40 I'm not saying they should have done nothing, but just from appearances' sake, and then
16:44 say, "Yeah, we're going for the playoffs this year."
16:47 The two just don't marry up.
16:50 Just be honest with people.
16:52 Give them a dose of reality.
16:53 They're big people.
16:54 They can handle it.
16:56 Just stop playing the hits and start giving them reality.
17:00 Then you walk it back like he did.
17:02 Because again, I want to make this clear.
17:04 He said the playoff word, and then he went back and said, "Well, you mentioned patience
17:09 or whatever the hell."
17:11 Now you're wishy-washy.
17:13 Now you're sending mixed messages because I think you went a little too far to appease
17:18 certain people by mentioning playoffs, then realized it maybe in real time and said, "Oops,
17:23 maybe I need to go back to the idea that we're building this thing."
17:29 You have to get one clear message together as an organization.
17:33 It feels like Wolf and Mayo have done a better job of that since the early burn cash and
17:40 all that stuff.
17:41 They've done a little bit better of a job of that.
17:45 Today I thought Kraft stumbled a bit.
17:48 When you bring up playoffs, again, people are going to listen to that.
17:53 They're going to hear that word.
17:54 You are not a fan.
17:55 I appreciate Robert wanting to be a fan.
17:58 He can be a fan at heart, but inevitably he's the owner of the football team.
18:04 You set the expectations.
18:06 When you go out there and you say things like, "Hey, I'd love a quarterback at number three,"
18:11 and "Hey, playoffs," certain people hear those things.
18:15 Fans hear those things, and now you've set the expectations.
18:18 I thought it was a mistake.
18:20 Robert's been at this for a long time.
18:22 He should understand that.
18:24 You can't just throw that stuff out there when you're coming off a four-win season,
18:28 for the love of God.
18:29 If you make the playoffs, awesome.
18:32 We would all love to see it, but don't go out there and say it, even if you back away
18:36 from it.
18:37 All right.
18:38 I didn't realize there was an issue with daycare, talking about the NFL PA survey.
18:46 Did that pass the smell test for you?
18:48 No.
18:49 That was horrendous and a huge mistake.
18:54 I don't want to say it showed, but if you have your doubts about ownership, or at least
19:03 about Robert Kraft at his age and what he's doing, it gives people fuel for the fire that
19:09 he's out of touch and he doesn't know what's going on with the team.
19:13 We talked about this when this year's version of the NFL PA survey came out.
19:19 Again, childcare at the games, not having a family room was on the survey for the second
19:27 straight year.
19:29 What Robert said today about that should be an easy fix, that's what we said when the
19:35 survey came out.
19:36 They didn't fix it.
19:38 This wasn't the first year of the NFL PA survey.
19:41 Is Jonathan trying to keep things away from his father for whatever reason?
19:49 It was a bad moment, it made him look out of touch.
19:53 If I were him, I would be pissed off at somebody for not putting him in a better position on
20:01 that question.
20:02 To me, there's no excuse for it.
20:04 There's no excuse for them not fixing that in one year.
20:08 I'm going to stop you right there because I'm going to ask you a question.
20:13 You can answer it in any way you want to.
20:16 The last couple of times that we've seen Robert speak at Mayo's introductory press conference
20:22 today, it seems like he gets a little bit ahead of himself, Greg.
20:27 He's walking himself into some of these mistakes.
20:29 Look, I don't expect him to be on top of everything.
20:35 I know some people expect that from their ownership.
20:37 I don't.
20:39 They're not going to know every scintilla of information.
20:42 But is it time that we might entertain the idea of having Jonathan step in and do these
20:49 press conferences?
20:54 Because I don't want to say have somebody.
20:55 You can't have somebody there standing next to Robert correcting him on things because
21:00 that's a terrible look.
21:03 Are we going to continue with the Robert Kraft stuff and have Robert have these press conferences
21:06 where he says too much, he makes these mistakes?
21:10 Or is it time to start this transition to Jonathan and give him the ball and say, let
21:14 him take accountability at these press conferences if he is more in tuned with day to day stuff?
21:20 Let him be the face of the franchise for the ownership now.
21:26 We didn't talk about this in the email before the show, but you basically read my mind.
21:35 Mike Giardi wrote off the press conference and I'm going to let what Mike wrote sort
21:40 of carry the day and I'll come back in a couple of days.
21:45 But my overwhelming thought leaving Robert's press conference today was and I'm trying
21:52 to be as I have the ultimate respect for Robert Kraft.
22:01 I do think that he's certainly still a titanic figure in terms of, well, that's probably
22:08 not the right word.
22:09 He's a huge figure.
22:10 He's a titan of the NFL still.
22:12 When he goes around the owners meetings, what he says, he has a lot of sway, certainly in
22:17 business dealings, in television dealings and all that.
22:22 But as far as in the other side of the coin with this thing is we all know he loves this
22:29 stuff.
22:30 We saw him being in front of the camera.
22:32 We saw him in the dynasty.
22:34 He wants to be the guy.
22:36 So that's part of the equation that I don't even know if they can get him to back down
22:41 because he loves to be in that position.
22:44 He's the owner.
22:45 He gets to do what he wants to do.
22:47 But putting that all that aside, my overriding thought leaving the press conference today
22:54 was it's time for Jonathan Kraft to start answering questions about this franchise,
23:00 that there need to be some tough questions answered.
23:04 There needs to be a back and forth.
23:06 There needs to be follow ups.
23:08 And where Robert is at this point, it's just, it's not fair to him.
23:15 It's not fair to the fans, at least some of the fans.
23:19 Like we all know, or at least we have a pretty good idea.
23:22 Look, Jonathan Kraft and Robin Glazer are running this team behind the scenes.
23:27 That's what they are doing.
23:28 They are more involved than a lot of people know.
23:33 And for them to put Robert Kraft basically out there as sort of a shield from the tough
23:40 questions, I'm sorry, it doesn't cut it anymore.
23:42 Not with what's going on with this franchise.
23:44 And you can't just wave a, it was all Bill's fault type of thing.
23:47 And then we're just like, okay, well now we're going to wait and see.
23:50 Like, no, Jonathan, I completely agree with you.
23:54 I think it's time and Robert can certainly do his role, but in terms of day to day accountability
24:02 of this franchise and where it is, it's time for Jonathan Kraft to stand up and answer
24:07 the questions.
24:08 I just want to clarify one thing before people take a snippet of what you just said and run
24:14 with it.
24:16 Robin Glazer and Jonathan Kraft's involvement, you are not talking about football decisions,
24:21 correct?
24:22 You're talking about the day-to-day business, the survey stuff and all of that.
24:26 Yeah.
24:27 Yeah.
24:28 All right.
24:29 I just don't want to, you know, this world in 2024, I just want to make that clear that
24:33 Greg is not throwing out there that Glazer and Jonathan Kraft are the GMs of this team.
24:37 He's talking about the day-to-day business side of the operation and being the ownership
24:43 stewards of this franchise.
24:45 That's what Greg's talking about.
24:46 I want to make that clear for everybody watching and listening.
24:49 Yeah.
24:50 A hundred percent.
24:51 Because I, you know, there was that mention in the Seth Wickersham article and about how
24:56 there's some people around the team that believe like once Bill's gone, that Jonathan Kraft
25:00 and Robin Glazer were going to run football operations.
25:05 Seth reported that.
25:06 I don't know that to be true.
25:08 I don't know how involved he is as far as all that goes on.
25:12 But I'm just talking about the day-to-day operations of the team, oversight of the team,
25:19 what's going on, not involved in football decisions, but just oversight of the team.
25:24 I think Jonathan Kraft and Robin Glazer are now the point person, point people for the
25:30 day-to-day operations and accountability of the football team.
25:34 All right.
25:35 One thing that clarifies it.
25:36 I don't know if I did.
25:38 One thing that Robert did bring up was a $50 million workout facility.
25:43 Is this the new gym or is this more involved than we thought?
25:47 Yeah, this is this has been in the works.
25:50 People have been whispering about it.
25:53 Even Paul Perillo and Fred Kirsch over on, you know, Patriots.com sort of intimated at
26:00 this at some point about the NFL PA survey that and I do think this goes back to to Belichick.
26:08 I think he drew up some plans.
26:11 Certainly, you know, when I talked to talk to Tom Silverstein the other day for the podcast
26:16 last week, one of the things he brought up with which sort of surprised me was that he
26:21 said I wouldn't be surprised if Elliott really tries to upgrade the facilities and what goes
26:27 on because that was a big thing of his father with the Packers in terms of making it more
26:33 enticing for players to want to be in the building and stick around and there's not
26:38 a lot to do in Green Bay.
26:39 But if we make it really nice for the players and the Lambeau when they did everything,
26:44 it's it's spectacular.
26:46 The the the rooms and stuff that they have behind the scenes for the players.
26:50 And so I think this has been in the works.
26:53 I think the NFL PA survey has been a little kick in the pants that maybe they were dragging
26:58 their feet a little bit.
27:00 But this is going to be a big deal from what I understand.
27:03 I think it's going to be connected to the stadium, but it's going to be sort of a standalone
27:08 football facility that they think is going to be first class and really enhance football
27:16 operations as a whole.
27:17 All right.
27:18 We've got more on crafts.
27:19 We've got more on the NFL rule changes that popped up today.
27:21 I want to get Greg's thoughts on those.
27:23 But first, I want to remind you, this episode is brought to you by PrizePix, largest daily
27:27 fantasy sports platform in North America.
27:30 Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to one hundred dollars.
27:35 And also check out Greg and company at B.S.J.
27:38 Fifty bucks for the year.
27:39 They do fantastic work.
27:42 Of course, Greg just mentioned Mike Giardi writing from down there in Orlando, as well
27:46 as they tag team the meetings this week.
27:48 So some great stuff there.
27:49 Fifty bucks for the year.
27:51 All right.
27:52 Two more things quickly on craft and then we'll move to the rules.
27:55 He was frustrated, he said, by the docuseries, the dynasty.
27:58 The approach of the docuseries being so focused on the controversies instead of the success.
28:05 What do you think of that comment?
28:07 Bullcrap, more bullcrap, more playing to the crowd.
28:12 You know, some of the players are voicing their opinions.
28:15 So, you know, what's he going to do?
28:17 Disagree with them and say, you know, I actually disagree with them that I you know, I thought
28:21 it was I thought it was very fair.
28:23 And look, this is all he it.
28:26 They were they had the book done by Jeff Benedict.
28:30 This was based on the book.
28:32 A lot of the stuff was in the book.
28:33 Benedict wrote the series there.
28:36 They copyrighted that they own it.
28:38 Craft Dynasty LLC.
28:41 And again, this is just him playing to the masses, trying to be the good guy, the teddy
28:46 bear, all that stuff.
28:48 I thought it was complete bullcrap.
28:52 He knew exactly what was going on.
28:54 This was their construction.
28:57 And I think Jeff Benedict and Hamishick executed exactly what the Crafts wanted in terms of
29:04 highlighting or at least highlighting Robert Craft's role and everything to enhance his
29:11 Hall of Fame credentials and to blame Belichick for the downfall of the Dynasty.
29:20 And I think it was mission accomplished from that standpoint.
29:23 And I think that's what they wanted.
29:26 And I again, I think it was complete bullcrap.
29:30 I will say I was talking to somebody here at the league meetings.
29:33 First of all, Nick, let me tell you.
29:39 Ownership and look, I'm not telling you how many, but I will say multiple owners thought
29:47 the Dynasty thing was not good, did not reflect well on Robert Craft.
29:55 Some of them are joking about it behind his back.
29:59 And also there was one other tidbit.
30:03 Somebody told me, I'll leave that one out just because it was too much rumor mongering.
30:09 But just let's just say that that Craft before the blowback, Craft was pretty proud of this
30:17 docuseries.
30:18 Interesting.
30:19 Final question.
30:20 He mostly dodged the question from you guys down there about Belichick being unfairly
30:28 maligned.
30:29 Dodging it, did that did that speak volumes?
30:33 Yes.
30:34 And that was so just to paint the scene for people a little like inside baseball.
30:40 So we're there talking with Robert and Stacey James, the director of media relations for
30:48 our vice president of media relations for the Patriots.
30:51 You could hear him.
30:52 He said two more questions.
30:55 Tom Curran, Mike Reese and I were sort of looking at each other saying like, who we
31:00 need to ask about the Dynasty.
31:02 And I would have been fine doing it.
31:05 Reese decided to do it.
31:06 He asked the first question.
31:08 Good job by Mike.
31:10 I thought I didn't think Craft.
31:13 I think a lot of fans wanted to be asked about Bill Belichick.
31:16 So when Reese asked the question, Stacey James said, that's the last question.
31:22 Mike Reese asked it.
31:24 He did not reflect on Bill Belichick, which I thought was in was not good.
31:29 I thought he needed to be asked about Bill Belichick.
31:32 So I asked the follow up and you can sort of see Robert looking at Stacey James like
31:38 I think I thought this was supposed to be over.
31:41 But I thought that it was very important that he was asked specifically about Bill Belichick
31:45 and that he completely punted on it and didn't say anything really about it other than, you
31:52 know, plug Tom Brady's night on June 12th and that they hope to have something similar
31:59 for Bill Belichick at some point in time.
32:02 Again, just not good enough, not good enough at all.
32:06 I don't know if he wasn't prepped for it or what.
32:08 It's hard for me to believe, but I did not think it was good.
32:12 Yeah, let's just give the people the full quote.
32:15 He said, and this is thanks to Andrew Callahan, who transcribed it on Twitter.
32:19 I feel so privileged that we had Bill here.
32:23 And you know, we hope when he's finished that we're going to have a chance to honor him
32:26 the way we did.
32:27 We will do with Tom Brady this year.
32:29 You know, we did this little ceremony and this is off the rails at this point.
32:33 We did this little ceremony at halftime of the Eagles game, but it was not adequate.
32:37 And we look forward to being able to celebrate putting him into the Patriots Hall of Fame
32:40 on 6/12/24.
32:41 And, you know, I look forward to the privilege of putting Bill into the Patriots Hall of
32:46 Fame one day in the future.
32:49 That was the comment to Greg's question.
32:51 Not good enough.
32:53 Yeah.
32:54 Not good enough.
32:55 All right, let's go to the rule changes.
32:57 NFL making a lot of a lot of changes, Greg.
33:01 I think some of them will be significant.
33:04 Let's start with the most controversial first, the banning of the hip drop tackle.
33:10 Yeah, I.
33:12 I don't know how they're going to officiate this thing.
33:15 I really don't.
33:17 It's something that I'm going to have to see in action.
33:20 Obviously, it's going to be more fines after the fact than 15 yard penalties.
33:25 But this is this is going to be hard for me.
33:30 It's an officiating nightmare.
33:32 And they don't like to do that.
33:35 They don't like to put their officials in that that circumstance.
33:38 I'll be very interested to hear because we always get the officials come out and they
33:43 speak to the media normally when they come and do a joint practice or what have you.
33:48 And I'll be very interested to hear from the officials how they feel about this rule change
33:54 in the position it puts them in.
33:55 All right.
33:56 There's going to be a new kickoff this season.
33:58 I love this, by the way, because now I think kickoffs will matter.
34:03 But basically, Judge Judy says there are no basically there are no basically.
34:09 Here's the deal.
34:10 The coverage team starts at the 40 yard line.
34:13 The return team, the blockers will be there at the 35 yard line.
34:18 Kicker kicks to the kickoff returner.
34:21 And then the action happens.
34:23 What do you think?
34:25 I love it.
34:28 You know, and I think this saves a lot of people's jobs, including special teams, coordinators
34:32 and returners and special teams players and things like that.
34:36 I think somewhere Bill Belichick is salivating over this.
34:39 I mean, I just think I think it's a safe way to do the kickoff just having them in a five
34:44 yard zone, you know, because that's always been my issue with special teams, punt returns,
34:50 kickoff returns, especially it's like it's a car crash.
34:53 It's it's it's just not healthy for the players.
34:56 And so I think it's going to be dynamic.
35:00 I think it's I'm actually going to make sure I'm there to watch kickoffs where, you know,
35:06 in the past couple of years I've been like, I'm going to the bathroom.
35:09 I can be back, you know, in time.
35:11 You know, but now kickoff returns are going to be must watch TV, which I think was the
35:16 aim of this.
35:17 And I think it's going I think it's going to be tremendous.
35:19 I can't wait to see the innovations about reverses and, you know, how are we going to
35:23 we're going to pull a blocker and who what kind of players are you putting on special
35:28 teams?
35:29 Are you going to keep six tight ends like is it you know, is it going to be linebackers
35:33 safeties like I think it's all fascinating.
35:37 Couple points here.
35:38 I'll say it really shines a light on how antiquated the NFL is.
35:43 And the fact that they're just so slow to change things significantly.
35:48 This is another thing where they just take it from the XFL like, oh, wow, that's interesting.
35:53 We would have never thought of that.
35:55 Why are people in the NFL not thinking about it?
35:57 Or if they're thinking about it, why are those people being, you know, suffocated, so to
36:02 speak when it's time to maybe make some changes?
36:05 This is why baseball took forever for the pitch clock, like if you have a good idea
36:09 that makes the game fun, then bring it to the table and talk about it.
36:13 And these owners across the league are just so damn scared of changing things.
36:16 Oh, what's going to happen?
36:18 I think this is going to be fun.
36:20 I want to ask you, though, Greg, because you're a nuts and bolts, meat and potatoes kind of
36:24 guy.
36:26 Does this change player value?
36:27 Do you think it changes how some teams might construct their roster now?
36:32 Maybe maybe putting a little bit more emphasis on returners, for example.
36:38 I think so, but it's interesting hearing Eric Galco, who used to be the XFL's director of
36:45 player personnel, he helped implement this in the XFL.
36:48 He has a fascinating thread on X about the ramifications that it has.
36:55 And he actually thinks that it's you know, you could you could you could see this might
37:00 help the running backs like he thinks it's more of a running back position that instead
37:05 of just speed guys.
37:08 And so you could now keep three or four running backs because you might need one as a returner.
37:14 So again, this goes to the it's going to be very interesting to see how teams deal with
37:19 it, but it's certainly going to change some things in terms of personnel.
37:23 Interesting you say that, because that means it might up the value of Antonio Gibson.
37:28 You know, somebody on the Patriots roster who might be a little bit more dynamic.
37:32 Pop Douglas, imagine him in that kind of setting there.
37:35 If you get by a couple of dudes, it's you're off to the races.
37:38 Got to be interesting.
37:39 All right.
37:40 A few more things quickly.
37:42 Replay assistant is now allowed to correct roughing the passer and intentional grounding,
37:47 Greg.
37:49 I like it.
37:52 I think, you know, when it comes to like headshots and stuff like that, like, you know, get it
37:57 right.
37:58 I don't think it's been officiated consistently, and that's been a big source of frustration.
38:03 You know, hopefully this helps whether it ultimately does.
38:06 I need to see it in action.
38:09 I think it gets us closer to the spy judge, the sky judge, not the spy judge, Nick, the
38:13 sky judge, which is which is a good thing.
38:17 Maybe they maybe we do need a spy judge in football.
38:19 All right.
38:20 Third replay challenge added after one successful challenge.
38:23 It used to be two.
38:24 Do you care?
38:25 Hate it.
38:26 I hate it now.
38:28 Now you get rewarded for, you know, getting 50 percent right.
38:32 Like, no, you want the third challenge.
38:34 Get your two challenges right now.
38:36 Now guys are just going to be more willing to challenge.
38:38 I don't like it, but, you know, maybe maybe there's something I'm not seeing.
38:43 I know it's going to make me sound like old man yelling at the clouds, but my concern
38:46 is way too many replay reviews, man.
38:49 Like the sky judge is a good idea, but that means we're going to have more reviews.
38:53 We're going to have more corrections on the field.
38:56 Then you're adding a challenge, like Greg said, by going 50 percent on your first challenge
39:01 out of your first two challenges.
39:02 So that just how many reviews do we need?
39:06 I've been watching the NCAA tournament and my God, some of these games in the final three
39:11 minutes when the guy has to go there and look at every the Zapruder film over and over and
39:16 over again in the final two minutes of a basketball game is now 40.
39:20 It's I just that's my concern is just too much of that.
39:26 You can promote now a I'm sure Belichick would have loved this last year with the 50000 quarterback
39:31 transactions he made.
39:33 You can now promote a practice squad quarterback as an emergency quarterback on game days an
39:37 unlimited amount of times, Greg.
39:39 Oh yeah.
39:41 Nathan Brooks, a secret weapon on game day.
39:45 Yeah, I don't really care.
39:48 All right, last one for you.
39:50 The trade deadline is kicked back one week.
39:52 It's not going to be Tuesday after week nine.
39:56 Kick it back further.
39:57 You know, let's let's get it going.
40:00 Let's do it like, you know, before the final month of the season, like the final like five
40:04 weeks.
40:05 I still think week nine is is too early.
40:07 It's an improvement.
40:08 You know, it should have been done before when they went to 17 games.
40:12 But it needs to be it needs to be more dynamic.
40:16 That thing you push it back a little bit more.
40:19 It could be must see TV.
40:21 All right.
40:23 Greg will be blasting out of Orlando to come back home in the next 24 hours or so.
40:28 Safe travels, my friend.
40:29 Great stuff.
40:30 If something big happens, Greg and I, I'm sure we'll be all over it.
40:33 But I think this does it for us this week.
40:35 So everybody enjoy the rest of your week.
40:37 Enjoy your weekend.
40:38 Have some fun.
40:39 And Greg and I will be back next week to cover all things Patriots.
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