- 7 weeks ago
Do the Kraft's need MORE credit for the Christian Gonzalez contract?
Curtis: "I think that we have not given Robert Kraft credit for distancing himself from the past, and owning mistakes"
Have the Patriots 'changed'? Has there been a shift?
Curtis: "I think that we have not given Robert Kraft credit for distancing himself from the past, and owning mistakes"
Have the Patriots 'changed'? Has there been a shift?
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SportsTranscript
00:00I believe that Robert Kraft's last big football decision
00:03after Parcells and before Belichick
00:06was the massive record-setting extension to Drew Bledsoe.
00:11Would we agree that that was a Robert Kraft
00:13number one overall pick?
00:14His guy gave him $100 million.
00:17Yes, yes.
00:18He called him a son-like figure like Greg Hill.
00:21So fast forward for 20-plus years,
00:24and I think that we have not given Robert Kraft credit
00:29for distancing himself from the past
00:31and owning mistakes while spending an abundance of money.
00:35Today, the New England Patriots, if you check SPOTRAC,
00:37which I've cited often,
00:39are the 13th highest cash-spending team
00:42for the 2026 NFL season.
00:44Up from 2026 about three days ago,
00:48prior to the roster bonus given out to A.J. Brown,
00:51the Christian Gonzalez money will hit as well.
00:54In the aftermath of the disastrous 2023 season,
01:00Robert Kraft fired Bill Belichick
01:02and paid him $30 million to do nothing.
01:04I gave him a hard time for not reallocating those resources.
01:07He hired the wrong person in Gerard Mayo in 2024,
01:12signed him to a long-term extension,
01:13a long-term deal to the head coach.
01:15In the immediate aftermath of that season,
01:17the first press conference you saw
01:19after they lost that final game,
01:20he said, this is on me,
01:21and he fired Gerard Mayo,
01:23owning the rest of that deal
01:24and hiring Mike Vrabel.
01:27Now, the offseason preceding this,
01:30he spent ungodly amounts of money on Milton Williams,
01:33brought in Christian Splane,
01:35Harold Landry,
01:36brought in a bunch of free agents.
01:37Robert.
01:38Robert Splane.
01:39Robert Splane and Harold Landry and those guys.
01:41This offseason,
01:42he gives Christian Gonzalez,
01:44after a protracted, long negotiation,
01:47the highest paid cornerback salary
01:50in the history of the NFL.
01:53And I think we should all say
01:55thank you to Robert Kraft
01:57for actually arriving where we wanted him to be.
02:00I blamed him for a lot of things
02:02that may or may not have been his decision.
02:04It is ultimately his team,
02:05but if you give somebody full control over the roster,
02:08that's not exactly your decision.
02:09And I would say he owned where he was.
02:14He decided that this season
02:17would have been defined by a contract
02:19that was not given
02:20as opposed to giving a guy market value
02:22and moving forward.
02:23Whether or not they believe this to be worthwhile
02:26in the long-term financials of the organization,
02:30a dollar today is 70 cents next year.
02:32It's not going to impact them going forward.
02:34And I would just like to congratulate Robert Kraft
02:37for making that decision.
02:38I did not think they would get there.
02:40Yeah.
02:40I was wrong.
02:41And I'm very happy to accept that.
02:43And I would like to just say Robert Kraft,
02:46if you look at the cash spending that he has had
02:48since taking over the organization,
02:51it has changed.
02:52So however you want to write that,
02:53however you want to discuss it,
02:55there has been a shift
02:56and you have to just give some credit
02:58to the guy that owns the team.
02:59Yeah.
02:59I think it's easy to forget
03:02that at times he has been willing to pay guys
03:06at the highest level at the position,
03:10whether it be Will Fork,
03:13whether it be Logan Menken's,
03:15whether it be Gronk.
03:16So we all have suggested that he is cheap.
03:22But when he's had control,
03:24or however you want to define it,
03:26he paid Bledsoe, the highest paid quarterback,
03:28a guy he drafted in the history of the NFL,
03:30and now he's paying the cornerback,
03:33the highest paid in the history of the NFL.
03:34Well, you're trying to turn this into a bill thing,
03:36but he did, I just gave you three examples.
03:39Steph Gilmore.
03:40Three examples of players
03:41that he was willing to make the highest paid
03:43at their position.
03:44So I think it's been him all along.
03:47Right.
03:47Adelius Thomas, don't forget him.
03:49Like I said, Steph Gilmore.
03:50I mean, he's made guys that were considered
03:53the best at their position.
03:55He's paid those guys.
03:59Yeah.
04:00I mean, yeah.
04:01I didn't hear anything.
04:03I mean, I think when you start to look at...
04:05Steph Gilmore was a free agent.
04:07I know, but he still got paid.
04:09Asante Samuel was cut and traded.
04:11Yeah, I know that.
04:11But he's still paid guys, though.
04:13So you think that Bill Belichick
04:16would have given Christian Gonzalez this deal?
04:19Yeah.
04:20Well, I mean, does he get any credit for drafting him?
04:22Of course.
04:23So why don't you...
04:24Yeah, I think he might...
04:25I think he would have.
04:26I mean, it's hard to know.
04:27He's never paid a cornerback like that.
04:28Right, but why don't you...
04:29He paid Steph Gilmore.
04:30Like, I don't get why...
04:32Why does it matter whether he's drafted
04:34or is a free agent?
04:35Because that's what we're discussing.
04:36They've always been willing to pay a free agency.
04:38No, no.
04:38We're discussing who we're paying.
04:39Yeah, that's it.
04:40We don't...
04:40We're discussing...
04:41Before this, I was told that it was always Kraft
04:45and that's why they didn't pay people.
04:46Now Kraft pays them and it's what they've always done.
04:49But nobody said...
04:49Yes, we literally had that conversation on Friday.
04:51Curtis, you yourself were saying many times
04:54that it was Bill.
04:55Bill was taking all the money
04:57and there was nothing left for anybody else.
04:59Well, right.
04:59There was a budget for the organ...
05:01Right.
05:01There was a budget for the football program
05:03and Bill kept for himself
05:04more than he gave to the players.
05:05He was the highest paid coach
05:06in all of professional sports.
05:08But no one's ever said they didn't pay players.
05:11There's been...
05:11Nobody's ever said the Patriots didn't pay players?
05:13There's been a laundry list of players they paid.
05:16You just said that nobody's ever said
05:17the Patriots didn't pay players.
05:19Yeah.
05:19I've never said that.
05:21Okay, now you're shifting it.
05:22No, I'm not...
05:22But there's been a laundry list of players they've paid.
05:26That's literally all we've talked about
05:27is that the Patriots don't pay.
05:28Right.
05:29But we've talked about that over the time
05:31saying that they don't pay a lot of...
05:33But they have paid players.
05:35Like, we're having a conversation
05:36about this team not paying players.
05:38And we've given you numerous examples
05:41to players they paid.
05:43I also think, Curtis,
05:44when we have a million different players
05:46that have played for the Patriots organization
05:48come on this show and say,
05:49what's the name on the check?
05:51And it's Robert Kraft.
05:52Don't you think that in a certain scenario
05:56that, yeah, maybe he's been sheep in the past
05:58and maybe things have changed?
06:00Like, both can be true.
06:01He could have been the reason that...
06:03The name on the check is there
06:04because he is the one that empowers the person
06:06to run the football department.
06:09He could change the person
06:10and how they run the football department,
06:12but then that would mean removing that person
06:14who he believed to be the best coach
06:15to ever coach in the NFL.
06:16I think sometimes you decide to take away
06:20any type of validity
06:22that any of these players have said
06:24because of your hate for Bill Belichick.
06:26And I understand that that's your stance
06:27and you think that Bill was the one
06:29that was cheaping out on everybody,
06:30but it does seem when you talk to actual players
06:32like it is Kraft who makes those decisions
06:34and maybe he was cheap at a certain time
06:37and things have changed now moving forward.
06:39But I am cursed with a memory.
06:40Before this deal was signed,
06:42on this very show,
06:44we said, well, it was clearly Kraft the whole time.
06:47He's being sheep with Christian Gonzalez
06:49just like they were cheap with all these players.
06:52Now Greg has a list of players saying
06:53they've always paid people.
06:55It can't be both at the same time.
06:57I just said they were willing to pay players
07:02at the highest level at their position at times.
07:05Right.
07:05And the conversation on this very show
07:08before this deal was signed was,
07:10Curtis, why did you blame Belichick?
07:12Clearly, this is how they've always done business.
07:15Now they pay Christian Gonzalez
07:17and it's clearly this is how they've always done business.
07:19So who paid Gilmore?
07:21Bill Belichick.
07:22All right.
07:23In free agency.
07:24Just like he paid a Dallas Thomas.
07:26All right.
07:26Just like he paid guys at the top of people.
07:27So who paid Vince Wilfork?
07:29Bill Belichick.
07:30Okay.
07:32So Bill Belichick has proven when he was here.
07:35What was the Vince Wilfork deal?
07:37I would love to find him.
07:38I mean, it was.
07:39All right.
07:39Who paid Rob Gronkowski?
07:40Rob Gronkowski was after like five years
07:43of protracted contractual stalemates.
07:46No, no, no.
07:47But who paid him to make him
07:48one of the highest paid tight ends in the league?
07:50Bill Belichick.
07:51Okay.
07:51So they just, there have been times where we're like,
07:54oh, why don't they pay a wide receiver?
07:57Why don't they pay for more players?
08:00I think at the end of the day.
08:01Five years, $40 million deal
08:03is what we're talking about?
08:04But at that time.
08:06But at that time, that's what they.
08:07I mean, my goodness.
08:08Did ChatGPT find that?
08:10No, no, but at that time,
08:11that was one of the same way they paid player
08:14not to be named than Aaron Hernandez at that time.
08:17Right.
08:18At that time, they paid guys to the highest level
08:23of what that position was worth.
08:26I'm sorry.
08:27I guess I just.
08:27I guess I'm just the only person who heard the conversation,
08:30but prior to this deal saying that you, Greg Hill,
08:33and you, Wiggy, were saying,
08:34how do you say that it was Belichick
08:35when they're still cheap?
08:36Right.
08:37Now they pay a guy and it's what they've always done.
08:38It doesn't make sense to me.
08:39No, what doesn't make sense is when Bill pays guys
08:42and you go, Bill's cheap.
08:44But unlike you, I said he did.
08:45I'm saying, but the conversation prior to this contract
08:48being signed by you two was that,
08:51Curtis, why were you blaming Bill?
08:53It's Kraft.
08:54Clearly, they're still cheap.
08:55Now it's, they've always paid.
08:56Curtis, let me ask this question.
08:58In this room, of all of us.
09:00No, no, no.
09:00Is that not what you were saying prior to the deal?
09:02I don't know because I'm on to a different day
09:06and I'm not living.
09:07I'm not living.
09:08I'm not living.
09:09I'm not living in the past on what we said last week.
09:12I don't.
09:12Who brought up the Wilfork deal?
09:13What is the point that you want to make against me and Wiggy?
09:15Yes, who brought up the Wilfork deal if you don't want to bring up the past?
09:17What?
09:17Who brought up the Wilfork deal if you don't want to bring up the past?
09:22I brought up the Wilfork deal as something that the organization had done playing a player
09:29at the highest position.
09:30In the past.
09:31Yeah.
09:32Right.
09:32So you do want to talk about the past.
09:34No, I don't want to talk about you're trying.
09:37You've taken your lead and when anybody dared to say, oh, hey, we got a different opinion,
09:42you're now directing it at me and Wiggy, which is fine.
09:45I don't know what.
09:46You and Wiggy disagree with my league.
09:47No, no, no.
09:48It's great.
09:49It's fun.
09:49No, no, I, yes, I do disagree with the attempt to take a lead about Robert Kraft and turn
09:56it into how cheap Bill Belichick was because I don't think the conversation preceding the
10:00deal, unless I'm mistaken, was that should the deal not have been consummated, that this
10:07would have shown that clearly it was Robert Kraft all along who was cheap.
10:12We may have, we may have speculated on that, but the deal was consummated.
10:16It sure was.
10:17Right.
10:17So let's consummate some football.
10:19But there's only one person that ever talks about the Patriots and where they're spending
10:24at the bottom of the league.
10:25One person on this show that ever talks about that.
10:28And that, and that's not me.
10:30That's not Courtney.
10:31That's not Greg.
10:32That's not Sean.
10:33One person always brings up how cheap the Patriots are.
10:36And I'm crediting him.
10:37I said they're 13th.
10:38Right.
10:38But you did it.
10:39You did it to go after Bill Belichick.
10:41That was, it was a long way to get there.
10:43Right.
10:43And listen, you say all the time that if the Patriots, if the Red Sox spent like the
10:47Patriots, that Robert Kraft would be run out of town.
10:50You say that all the time.
10:51What do you mean if the Red Sox spent like the Patriots?
10:53If the Red Sox were in the bottom half, the bottom five teams in Major League Baseball
10:57and spending, that John Henry would be run out of town.
11:00You talk about the double standard.
11:01But don't say that I'm the only one that brings up catch spending with the Patriots.
11:04No, no.
11:04But the only time I talk about John Henry and the payroll is because there's only one person
11:08in this room that talks about the Red Sox and how they changed and how cheap they are
11:13now as a baseball organization when it comes to spending money.
11:16It's not me.
11:17It's not Courtney.
11:18It's not Greg.
11:19And it's not Sean.
11:19One person.
11:20The point that we're, at least I'm trying to make, is that we've seen this team maybe
11:25not spend money, but we've also seen this team, whether it was with Belichick or now
11:31it is with Robert Kraft, whoever, we've seen them spend to the highest in the league when
11:36it comes to specific players, whether it's been their own guys or whether it's been free
11:40agents.
11:41I believe Gerard Mayo said he wanted to burn some cash and they never did.
11:45Whatever happened to that?
11:48Right.
11:49Sean, give me the drop.
11:51Yes.
11:52And cash.
11:53Burn some cash.
11:54So, I mean, that's all.
11:56I think that, yeah, we've seen this team not spend the times, but we also have.
12:00And so I don't get, like, the lead.
12:02I get your lead on what you're trying to say, but when we give you examples of them
12:05spending, you then go, well, we're talking about right now.
12:11All right.
12:12I don't want to talk about the past.
12:14We're going to take a quick note.
12:16You clearly do.
12:18I love how Greg's got three contracts from 17 years ago, and I'm the guy that's talking
12:22about the past.
12:23Well, does the family ever say, Curtis, you have to stop talking about Bill.
12:28We're in the middle of dinner.
12:29I'd say, all right.
12:30He gets on me about my Shohei leads.
12:32Come on.
12:33I'm celebrating Robert Kraft.
12:34I think it's a great job.