Patriots insider refutes aspects of ESPN report about Jonathan Kraft’s desired role
According to ESPN, there were rumors that Jonathan Kraft would split up football operations duties with a Kraft Group executive now that Bill Belichick is gone.
Coaching was the main part of Bill Belichick’s job while he was with the Patriots, but it wasn’t the only aspect of running the team he was responsible for.
There are other factors for the Patriots to consider as they piece together a football operations staff without Belichick for the first time since 2000.
Belichick had control of personnel decisions in addition to his responsibilities as head coach. The Patriots will have to determine who will fulfill those duties now that Belichick is gone.
In a recent piece covering the end of Belichick’s tenure in New England, ESPN’s Seth Wickersham and Wright Thompson reported that rumors of an increased role in football operations for team president Jonathan Kraft had been spreading.
“Word leaked around the office,” the report reads. “That if Belichick were gone in 2024, football operations would be split between (Kraft Group senior vice president of business affairs Robyn Glaser) and Jonathan Kraft. Patriots coaches and executives thought that ‘the Krafts’ meddling has got everyone spun around,’ a source on the personnel side said.”
NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran refuted that portion of the ESPN report during a recent appearance on Arbella Early Edition.
“I couldn’t imagine this being any further from Jonathan Kraft’s dream job: running the organization in a football sense,” Curran said. “He does not want to have football operations responsibility, contrary to what was seen in Seth Wickersham’s piece.”
“He wants to see results, but I do think – and this is to the Krafts’ advantage in a way that it wasn’t for the Joneses (Jerry and Stephen),” Curran added. “They found out what they don’t know, and they know what they don’t know, as opposed to guys like the Joneses, who took over and immediately big-footed the entire organization in terms of, ‘We’re gonna be involved in this stuff.'”
The Patriots have hired Jerod Mayo as head coach to replace Belichick. The next step is to determine the rest of the staff.
Director of Player Personnel Matt Groh is still on the staff. So is Director of Scouting Eliot Wolf. It’s unclear if they will continue in those roles long term, but no changes have been announced.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Patriots are in “no rush” to hire a general manager.
“They might even wait until after the draft to hire a general manager,” Schefter said.
Team owner Robert Kraft said last week that Belichick earned power to make personnel decisions after he won his third Super Bowl as a head coach.
Considering that this will be Mayo’s first year as a head coach, it is unlikely that he would get approval for such responsibilities from the Krafts in the immediate future.
Changes are coming to the way the Patriots make personnel decisions. The question is, who will be next in charge?
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