Because the Patriots' season ends next week, the focus has shifted to primarily revolve around Jerod Mayo's status as head coach and the safety of the staff around him for the 2025 season. Conflicting reports suggest that Robert Kraft still believes in the current personnel, but based on their latest embarrassing loss in Week 17, that might change soon.
Making matters worse are the comments coming from the players whose frustration is growing from losses adding up and not much progress being made.
That was apparent after being blown out by the Chargers on Saturday, with a few players emphasizing the need for organizational changes to put the team on the right track. And unfortunately for Kraft, that's not the worst part of all the players spoke about.
In fact, hearing what defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale had to paint things to be even further from being tolerable heading into the offseason.
Daniel Ekuale shares an ugly reality of what's going on with the Patriots roster this season
While speaking to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald after the game, Ekuale spoke about some of his frustrations with the Patriots defense this season, but especially from this week's matchup.
While airing your grievances with a brutal loss isn't uncommon, it's the fact that Ekuale feels his teammates "give up" late in games, especially when they're playing from behind, which is a terrible look for the current regime and Kraft.
"I feel like towards the end of the 4th quarter, some of the guys just give up, and some guys play to the end of the whistle."
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) December 28, 2024
"To speak for myself, I've seen a lot of stuff out there. It feels like a lot of guys start giving up when things get hard. — #Patriots DL Daniel Ekuale pic.twitter.com/eIDnAbAgFU
Considering he's on the field and in the locker room, it's hard to dispute what Ekuale is saying, as he would know firsthand what is going on and being said by his teammates. If what he's saying is accurate, the Patriots have a bigger issue on their hands than just looking at the coaching staff or hoping to bring in better players in free agency next year.
Players not buying into what the new regime is trying to accomplish is a bad sign and could make Kraft's decision to make personnel changes a lot easier. The team's dysfunction has been apparent to fans and reporters watching every game, and this seems to confirm those suspicions to be true and will need to be addressed as soon as the offseason begins.
Having a potential culture issue is not something Kraft can allow to go on for too long. Otherwise, he's risking years of failure that could be avoided early on.