Prior to the Patriots’ Week 8 game against the New York Jets, team president Jonathan Kraft joined the Sports Hub’s Patriots Pregame to discuss the state of the team.
Of course, the biggest topic related to the Patriots right now is quarterback Mac Jones, who returned from a high ankle sprain last week against the Bears. Asked about Jones being able to continue the Patriots’ decade-long fortune of stability at the position, Kraft compared the 24 year old to his predecessors in the way he approaches the game.
“What I will tell you is Drew [Bledsoe], and then Tom [Brady] – passionate, hardworking guys, respected in the locker room, love football. You watch Mac Jones work, Mac Jones works just as hard and is just as passionate as those two were,” Kraft noted. “So I think we have somebody who loves the game of football. That matters to him. He’s in the building around the clock and cares deeply about it. And in my conversations with him, you see a guy who’s a leader. I know the people in the locker room, the other players believe that he is a strong leader and a leader of the team. And so that gives you the foundation to be a very good quarterback.”
Kraft was also asked about Bill Belichick, whose handling of the quarterback situation has drawn focus. In answering multiple questions, Kraft threw his support behind his coach.
“Bill’s earned the right to manage the team that way,” Kraft said of the quarterback management last week against the Bears. “And if he thought that was the right way to do it, you know, we support that.”
“If it’s not Bill Belichick, what coach are you going to let run a team anywhere?” he continued. “And I don’t say that because he’s our coach, I say it because just looking at the facts, that’s where you have to go.”
For more of Kraft’s comments on Jones, Belichick, and other matters relating to the state of the team, you can listen to the full interview above.
