The season ends, and the Krafts write a letter.
It’s become tradition in New England.
Lately, the Krafts’ end-of-year letters to season ticket holders have taken a somber tone.
Declaring dissatisfaction with the season. Apologizing for losses. Promising change.
This year, the Krafts shouldn’t wait for the season to end before they hit send. Ownership ought to speak directly to the fans spending their hard-earned money to sit and watch an unwatchable product for the final time Sunday against the Bills’ backups. Take this letter and run with it.
Run with it before a half-empty Gillette Stadium echoes again with calls for Jerod Mayo’s firing, and might cheer against its own team in the name of draft position. Here you go. Copy, paste and hit send.
Dear fans,
We failed you.
We failed to support Jerod Mayo properly as our first-year head coach, underestimating the challenges brought on by inexperience.
We failed to support our players well enough to provide them a legitimate chance to compete in today’s NFL.
We failed to meet the championship expectations set by our six Super Bowls titles and upheld by the greatest fans in the world.
This is unacceptable.
At our best, we have always been a game-plan organization. Adapting schematically to beat our opponents on Sundays, and economically to maintain a team fit to contend for Super Bowls year after year. The last five years, we have failed to adapt.
Losing the greatest quarterback of all time and then the greatest head coach of all time set us back beyond expectation. We never believed we would preside over four losing seasons in a five-year span, and during that time produce one of the worst home records in the league. We realize we must adapt again.
We must draft and develop players to replenish the talent base around our promising young quarterback Drake Maye. We must identify and raise young coaches capable of rising up the ranks instead of annually reaching outside our walls for short-term solutions. We must build out our scouting staff to a modern size and provide them with the tools and resources necessary to identify talent and build a winning roster again.
Together, we must recreate a culture of accountability, toughness and winning. And we will.
You will see upgrades this offseason. Significant coaching changes will come to light next week, as we complete a thorough review of our football operations. You will see hundreds of millions of dollars invested in new players during free agency. A new, state-of-the-art training facility will rise by the start of the 2026 season, and before then, a football team to be proud of.
Champions act like champions before they are crowned. It is time we compete again like the champions we’ve been, and will become again. It is our firm expectation to clinch a winning record in 2025, when we will play nine home games and watch our quarterback take a leap in his second season.
For now, we hear your frustration. We share in your pain. And we thank you for sharing your time, loyalty and passion with us during these difficult times for which we, the Kraft family, take full responsibility.
It is our family’s greatest honor to serve as stewards of the New England Patriots. We are all Patriots, and you will all feel proud to be Patriots once again.
With sincere appreciation and gratitude,
Robert and Jonathan Kraft
