PALM BEACH, Fla. — Robert Kraft says he’s been told several times.
Calm down. Temper your expectations. Relax.
Well, he may need to hear that a few more times.
On Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meeting, Kraft defined success for the Patriots with four fairly shocking words.
“To make the playoffs.”
Yes, the same Patriots who went 4-13, fired their head coach, turned over 40% of their roster, went 4-13 again and fired another coach. The same Patriots who can’t find the end zone unless they’re led by the hand. The same Patriots now picking in the top five of the draft for a second straight year.
But in pointing to the playoffs, was Kraft … wrong?
Because there’s nothing wrong with high expectations, especially for a team playing under six Super Bowl banners. And before the Patriots paid for a major talent infusion in free agency last month, they had already upgraded at two of the three most important positions in football: head coach and offensive coordinator. The third, quarterback, should also upgrade, assuming Drake Maye develops properly and springs for a Year 2 leap.
Then, the Pats guaranteed a league-high $197.8 million for more upgrades; notably at premium positions like wide receiver (Stefon Diggs), cornerback (Carlton Davis) and pass rusher (Milton Williams). So oddsmakers pinned their initial over-under win total for next season at 7.5.
Which begs the question: for a team facing a last-place schedule with eight games against other clubs drafting in the top 10, what’s a couple extra wins?
A lot, yes.
And unlikely, of course.
But far, far from impossible.
Not in the league of any given Sunday. Not for a sport where the quarterback is king. Not under a coach who won more games as an underdog than any of his peers [over five-plus seasons.](https://x.com/ESPNNFL/status/1703515230796480515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1703515230796480515%7Ctwgr%5E4cb53a0edf4551914732498f83dc80851651138e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftitanswire.usatoday.com%2F2023%2F09%2F18%2Ftitans-are-best-underdog-in-nfl-under-mike-vrabel%2F)
Which brings us to that coach, Mike Vrabel, the man probably telling Kraft to calm down.
It was barely two months ago Vrabel said he wasn’t sure the Patriots were good enough to capitalize on bad football. Did Williams and Co. really fix that?
Probably not.
But if — a major, 6-foot-6, 310-pound if — the Patriots do find a starting left tackle in the draft, there may be enough on this roster to surprise.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, left, shakes hands with Boston College linebacker Kam Arnold at an NFL Pro Day, Monday, March 24 in Boston. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Enough to give their rebuild the feel of something closer to a rebirth, as Kraft suggested.
“I think we’re ahead of that,” Kraft said of starting over in their rebuild. “I think we have some real talent in the locker room.”
Still, they need more. And there’s one place left to find it: the draft, the draft, the draft.
Vrabel, like Bill Belichick before him, knows the cost of whiffing on too many picks. The Titans never solved their quarterback situation once Ryan Tannehill tailed off. They never weaponized their offense after trading A.J. Brown. They missed on first-rounders. Not long after that, Vrabel was gone.
The draft explains most everything about this moment in New England.
How Vrabel found himself free to return home, why the Patriots needed him in the first place and what they must do to light their path out of the wilderness.
“I hope that we’re never drafting No. 4 again in my lifetime. But today, it’s a great opportunity, and in the end, if you want to build a team that is going to win and sustain winning, you have to have good drafts,” Kraft said. “Unfortunately, over the last few years, we have not done a good job in that area. I think the organization has reshuffled how we do things, on priorities and how we value it. And I hope we start to see the impact of that over the next couple of years.”
Remarking about the draft was one of several covered squares on the Kraft press conference bingo card.
The octogenarian owner also mentioned he used to sit in the bleachers at old Foxboro Stadium; how the Patriots rank a close second behind family in his power rankings of the heart. Even a veiled shot at Belichick seemed to slip into a separate comment about the draft.
“I’ve learned in every organization, it’s the culture that matters, and people have to be comfortable speaking up and saying I don’t agree. And sometimes you can be in a business environment where people are afraid to do that,” Kraft said. “I think the culture now is an open culture where people are free to express opinions.”
Kraft certainly expressed himself Tuesday.
He, the most powerful man in the organization, voiced the possibility of a postseason bid.
Not a player, not a coach, nor a fan or writer. The owner.
Now it’s up to everyone else to make it happen.