Jonathan Kraft Has High Praise Of Green-Ellis
FOXBORO (CBS) – New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft joined the 98.5 The Sports Hub's Patriots pregame show, and made sure to point out the contributions of one of the Patriots best stories: BenJarvis Green-Ellis
"The thing about him that is so great, he doesn't have the breakaway speed… but he never had negative runs," Kraft said of the Patriots running back. "He's patient, he hits the hole. When you don't have negative runs as an RB, it means you're moving the chains and helping your club."
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In addition to gaining yards nearly every time he touches the ball, Green-Ellis has a knack for holding on to the ball. While Kraft did not want to jinx it, Green-Ellis has yet to fumble the football during his pro career.
At least not in regular season play.
"We don't want to talk about it," said Kraft. "But I did hear somebody this week in the building mention that to Bill (Belichick) and Bill said you're wrong. He did it in a preseason game."
"When that game ended, Bill basically went up to him… said 'hey, undrafted guys who do that don't stay in this league,'" Kraft recalled. "And I think Benny's such a good kid and took that to heart and worked hard. His running last week (against the Jets) was really critical to our success. It's been fun to see the development of him, it's great."
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Kraft pointed out that some of the key cogs in the Patriots offensive attack, Tom Brady, Wes Welker and Green-Ellis, were never thought to be stars in the NFL. Brady was drafted in the sixth round, with both Welker and Green-Ellis going undrafted.
Now Green-Ellis is trying to join the other two among the household names on the Patriots offense.
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"When he's productive, it sets up so many things in the passing game. Then the passing game obviously helps him," said Kraft, noting how electric the offense has been this season.
"It's been fun all season, but Benny in particular really deserves this," said Kraft.
After the Patriots-Cowboys game, hear Tom Brady and Bill Belichick's postgame press conferences on 98.5 The Sports Hub Postgame Show and Patriots Fifth Quarter on MY TV38.
