Robert Kraft Offers Message To Patriots Fans Before Tom Brady Ceremony

Robert Kraft put on quite the celebration Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium in honor of Tom Brady being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.

The celebrating might not carry over into the fall for the Patriots, though.

The franchise is in a clear transition period after it parted ways with legendary head coach Bill Belichick and appointed Jerod Mayo to the helm. And there’s not a great deal of confidence that the Patriots, who went an AFC-worst 4-13 last season, can execute a quick turnaround after not doing much this offseason outside of re-signing a handful of players.

But Kraft is staying upbeat and believes the Patriots are on the road to success, even if it doesn’t come this season.

“I promise all of our fans we’re building something special here,” Kraft said on the red carpet prior to the Brady induction ceremony. “I don’t know what’s going to happen this next year. But we’re going to have some fun new chapters.”

Not much has been fun for the Patriots since Brady left. New England has gone under .500 in three out of the four seasons since his departure and in its lone playoff appearance this decade, they got steamrolled by the Buffalo Bills.

The Patriots probably will never match the run they had with Brady under center as combined with Belichick, they led New England on an illustrious 20-year journey, which featured six Super Bowl titles.

Just getting back to being a perennial playoff team is the first step for the Patriots. They have obviously hitched their wagon to Drake Maye after New England took the quarterback with the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft.

Maye might not even start as a rookie, but if the Patriots are trying to get near the level they were at with Brady, much of that will do with how the North Carolina product performs in the years to come.