Robert Kraft on Patriots' Rookie Haul: 'Great, Great Draft'
After all the dysfunction - not to mention the defeats - over the last couple seasons, it's nice to hear some harmony coming from within the New England Patriots.
Just two years after harshly criticizing his team's drafting, owner Robert Kraft this week went out his way to compliment his front office for what he expects to be a productive 2023 class of rookies. Kraft said on NFL Network that he told his son, Patriots President Jonathan Kraft, that he’s very excited about where the team is heading after the players they added.
“Jonathan and I were chatting, and I said, ‘This was a great, great draft. I’m really optimistic about the team,’" Kraft said. "And he said, ‘You say that every year!’ But I really believe it. We were able to get the top seven picks that we had identified before the draft. I think it gives us a good balance of what our needs are. I think our free agent pickups and getting Bill O’Brien in will make a big difference.”
In the past year New England has absorbed Matt Patricia's dismal offensive play-calling, a quarterback controversy between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe, bone-headed losses in the final minutes and coach Bill Belichick supposedly so mad at his quarterback that he shopped him this offseason.
But with O'Brien in place, Jones receiving a vote of confidence and a 12-player draft headed by Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez, there are finally some positive vibes in Foxboro.
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