The 2024 NFL season has a chance to be a very, very long campaign for the New England Patriots.
Even the franchise's longtime owner might be buying into that line of thinking.
Robert Kraft has seen the Patriots go all over the map since purchasing the organization in 1994. He watched New England run roughshod over the league on several occasions, with six of those successful seasons ending in Super Bowl championships. But Kraft also has seen things go south in Foxboro, Mass., including last season when the Patriots only won four games.
The brutal 2023 season -- New England's worst since 1992 -- prompted Kraft and company to make wholesale changes over the offseason, highlighted by a new head coach and a revamped quarterback room. The turnover inspired optimism for the future, but the here and now is a different story.
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"(Bill Belichick) went 5-11 that first year, and they were killing me," Kraft told MassLive's Karen Guregian. "But I'm not going to let (doubters) influence my life. I'm going to do what's right for this team and our fan base. It's very important that I think we have a management group -- I don't know how we're going to do this year -- but we have a management group I feel is right for the future.
"We're moving on."
That doesn't sound like an owner who is anticipating much success this fall. It sounds like the leader of a franchise who already is bracing for significant criticism over lousy results. And that would be more than fair, as New England is entering the regular season with one of the NFL's weakest rosters on paper.
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We recently gained a potential view of the organization's vision when the Patriots named their starting quarterback for this season. Jerod Mayo went with journeyman Jacoby Brissett over Drake Maye, a far more talented signal-caller who appeared to spark more life into the offense in the preseason. The apparent line of thinking? Don't throw Maye to the wolves this season when struggles could abound. Let him take over when the team is farther along in its rebuild.
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The decision felt like waving a white flag of sorts on the 2024 season, and those comments from Kraft did more of the same. New England might not be illustrating a full-blown tank over the next few months, but it pretty clearly is prepared to take its lumps.
Featured image via Eric Canha/Imagn Images
