The New England Patriots are embarking on a new era. After a 4-13 campaign in 2023, the club parted ways with Bill Belichick and now it’ll be Jerod Mayo ushering the franchise into its next chapter. One of the more intriguing comments made by Mayo since ascending to head coach was when he told WEEI that the team is “ready to burn some cash.” But are they?
The Patriots are armed with the third most cap space in the NFL this offseason with roughly $66 million to spend. If they are successful at not only luring players to Foxborough via free agency but also drafting well starting with the No. 3 overall pick, this rebuild could be a positive trajectory relatively quickly. While the team may have the cap space to bring in talent, prior history has indicated that the team may not be backing up the Brink’s truck. Under Belichick, the Patriots operated with a frugal mentality that emphasized getting good players at great value. That has led to some criticism of the franchise for its spending habits, but Kraft is pushing back on the notion that he’ll continue that practice.
“I know there’s a perception that we have held back on spending,” Kraft told reporters in Las Vegas, via NBC Sports Boston. “Let me just say, for our fans, that’s just not true. Look, we were blessed to have a coach in our system who was a great coach and also understood value. He ran a tight ship.”
Over the past 10 years, the Patriots ranked last in cash spending ($1.62 billion) and were 31st in the league in cash spending in 2023.
“They say we’ve been low spenders in the last 10 years, and that might be true,” Kraft said. “But we had a pretty good record. And we won three Super Bowls. But our coaches have always had the ability to spend at whatever level they wanted. I think Bill was always thinking about the future and really understood value. But we never held back with any of the coaches we’ve had over the last 30 years. They’ve been able to get whatever they want. If cash spending became an issue for our family, and we couldn’t do it, then I would sell the team. Winning football games, after my family, is the most important thing in my life. Whatever we can do to help make that happen, we’re going to do.”
While Kraft is talking the talk at the moment, he’ll be able to walk the walk in a little over a month when free agency kicks off.
