Patriots’ Robert Kraft Admits To This ‘Bias’ Amid Search For Executive

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo was introduced Wednesday at Gillette Stadium.

It will probably take some getting used to reading that, but the event ended up being pretty exciting for all involved. Mayo and Patriots owner Robert Kraft ushered in the new era by answering questions surrounding the former’s plans for the future, what the promotion meant for him and his family and how he differs from former coach Bill Belichick.

That lasted for all of eight minutes, however, as people quickly moved on to the next piece of business. Who’s going to be making personnel decisions?

Kraft received the question a few times, and though he didn’t really want to answer it, we finally got an in-depth response.

“My bias has always been … to try and develop a culture from within where we understand one another.”

Patriots owner Robert Kraft

“We have a lot of people internally that have had the chance to train and learn under the greatest coach of all time (Belichick), and a man whose football intellect is very special,” Kraft said, per team-provided video. “In the short term, we’re looking for collaboration, because our team has a tremendous opportunity to position itself. … In my 30 years of ownership, we’ve never drafted this low. We’re counting on internal people, whom we’re still learning about and evaluating. We’re going to let that evolve and develop before key decisions have to be made and we appoint someone.

“We’ll probably start doing interviews and look at people from the outside, but my bias has always been — in our family companies, to try and develop a culture from within where we understand one another.”

It might not be what people want to hear, but Kraft’s explanation gives background to a number of reports that claim the Patriots’ plan to hire from within.

In fact, he all but confirmed it.

New England’s always had an affinity for continuity, and though things haven’t gone well in recent seasons, it looks as though the Patriots are essentially going to run it back from an organizational standpoint — sans Belichick.

That’s a risk, but it also tells the story of why Kraft and Belichick decided to “amicably” part ways. There clearly was a disconnect between the two toward the end, and moving forward it looks like at least one side will try to prove that they were right.