Kraft talks on Patriots' draft

FOXBOROUGH – The red carpet was rolled out at Gillette Stadium this morning as Patriots owner Robert Kraft and president Jonathan Kraft unveiled another part of Patriot Place – “Showcase Live!”, a venue for live music.

After the announcement, which drew a large media contingent ranging from entertainment to business to sports reporters, Robert Kraft addressed some football questions.

His thoughts on the team’s first-round draft choice, Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo?

“He seems like a wonderful young man and someone who can fit in our system well,” Kraft said. “Bill [Belichick] had told me his objective here was to get younger and faster on defense, and it looks like that’s what has been done.

“People always say ‘how do you feel about the draft?’ Some people called from out of town and asked me about some of our competitors’ drafts as well. If you’re not excited after draft day, you’re in big trouble, because you’re 0-0 and on paper you’ve improved your team. But in the end you don’t know until they hit the field.

“I remember with one of the picks we had – who happened to be a linebacker that I was very excited about – it never really developed into what we saw on paper. So I’ve learned to try to be modest in my expectations, but down deep, as a fan, I think we improved a lot.”

Kraft did not specify which player he was referring to, although he might have been referencing 1999 first-round draft choice Andy Katzenmoyer.

Kraft was told that some fans were curious about the decision of selecting a quarterback in the third round – San Diego State’s Kevin O’Connell (94th overall) – when the team has Tom Brady at the position.

“I’m going to leave that to our football people,” he said. “This is a game where you never know on one snap what can happen. What happened with Drew [Bledsoe] and Tom is a perfect example. So having insurance at key parts of any business is good business.

“As far as when they picked, who they picked, I have a lot of confidence and trust in Bill and Scott [Pioli] and their understanding of value and what’s in the marketplace. And also their understanding of our staff and what’s happening – we just don’t do things for this year. We’re thinking about this year, two years, three years, five years. You have to look at a decision like that in totality, not as an isolated decision.”