Kraft vs. Belichick? Patriots 'Money Spending Will Never Be Issue'
The New England Patriots hired Bill O'Brien. They signed receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in free agency. They recently awarded new contracts to DeVante Parker and Ja'Whaun Bentley.
And if they don't land coveted free-agent receiver DeAndre Hopkins, it won't be because of money. Says owner Robert Kraft, "Money spending will never be the issue, I promise you, or I’ll sell the team."
Kraft's declaration was given to the Boston Sports Journal, in response to coach Bill Belichick's odd explanation - excuse? - at the end of last season about New England suddenly not being big enough spenders in free agency.
Said Belichick last January about his team's lackluster 2021 free-agent class, "Our spending in 2020, our spending in 2021, and our spending in 2022 - the aggregate of that - was we were 27th in the league in cash spending. Couple years we’re low, one year was high, but over a three-year period, we are one of the lowest-spending teams in the league."
BSJ's Greg Bedard sought out Kraft to get his side of the financial story.
“So I asked Robert about Bill Belichick’s comments, about how they’re one of the lowest cash-spending teams in the league,” Bedard said on NBC Sports Boston’s Early Edition. “And a lot of fans took that as a little bit of a shot at ownership, that the Krafts aren’t willing to spend for this team. And I asked Robert about that, and I just want to quote him accurately.
“He says, ‘He has never come to me and not gotten everything he wanted from a cash-spending perspective. We have never set limits'."
More than a lack of spending, most of us believe the reason for the Pats being 25-25 without a playoff win the last three seasons is a lack of Tom Brady.
According to Spotrac, however, the Patriots’ payroll stands at $203,597,868, second-lowest in the NFL. They are about $15 million under the salary cap, one of the reasons for so much optimism in having the flexibility to sign Hopkins.
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