Patriots owner Robert Kraft is in favor of an 18-game NFL schedule with two bye weeks and every team playing one game overseas. (AP file photo)

It’s the annual end-of-March NFL owners meetings, and that means the New England Patriots hierarchy are speaking their minds early this week in Phoenix.

Owner Robert Kraft met with reporters breifly on Monday, and briely answered a question about his team’s salary extension plans. The hot topic, of course, has been corner Christian Gonzalez, who is eligible for an extension.

“Well, we always try,” Kraft said,the video of his press conference shown on patriots.com. “We have a salary cap, so we have a limit. We have to think what’s best for the team in terms of timing, of the signing and of course the earlier you do it, it’s believed it’s more economically satisfactory. But we leave that up to Mike Vrabel, Elliot Wolf and our people making contract decisions.”

He was asked in general about the organization’s philosophy, with a specific mention about Gonzelez and quarterback Drake Maye, although Maye is not eligible until after next season for an extension.

“We’re lucky to have those two players and I hope and believe they’ll be with us for the long term.”

Maye’s not eligible for an extension until next year, while Gonzalez is now, and it’s been a hot topic in the Patriots off-season rumor mill.

Patriots VP of Player Personnel Wolf in a separate interview reiterated the desire to lock up Gonzalez long term, which is what he said earlier this month.

“Christian’s a tremendous player, and it’s no secret that we’d like to try to get something done with him,” Wolf said. adding earlier “He’s a great talent. He’s one of the best players of his position in the NFL. He’s developing as a leader, you know, and he’s a quiet person, so you know that’s going to look different than maybe the way someone else leads, but he’s really just scratching the surface.

“He’s already up there as an elite talent, and we think he can improve even more.”

Meanwhile, Kraft talked about how elated he was with having a Super Bowl team last season.

“Well last season was great,” Kraft said. “I’m newly married (four years) and my wife couldn’t believe the difference winning the way we did last year how it changed the whole week and she let Mike Vrabel know that. …

“I think actualy the team way overachieved what any of us thought would happen, and it was wonderful. And winning that championship game in Denver, when we had such a past history of difficulty winning in Denver, it was very special, and so proud of this team, and most of them are still young.”

That being said, Kraft feels it will be much more difficult in 2026 to have the same type of season.

“Yeah, we have a pretty tough (schedule),” h said with a grimace. “I think the hardest schedule, a lot of West Coast travel. You know, my objective every year is we make the playoffs, and as we saw last year, when you’re privileged to make the playoffs, anything can happen.”

Kraft is looking for an 18-game schedule in part to help grow the game internationally, and feels every team should play an international game and then get a bye the following week, giving them two byes during the season. And, as has been rumored, cut the preseason even further from three games to two.

“Well, I like it long term for growth and development of the league, because to keep our league healthy and grow revenue, I think preseason games have not been what it used to be when we owned the team, and changing to 18 games and having that real content and being mindful of player safety, I personally would like to see us have a second bye week but then it would allow us to also grow the game internationally.”

Then he explained how.

“We’d have every team in the league play a game overseas,” he said, “and it just, I thin would be a lot more exciting for the fans to have an extra game rather than the way our preseason games stack up.”

Kraft also was asked about the franchise’s newest creation, the New Balance Training Center that now houses the team and support staff, as they reportedly moved in from the Gillette Stadium offices last week.

“The training center I think it’s very special, “and I think it will give our coaching staff and our players reason to celebrate the efficiency of what can go on there and it’s right on the field.

“I’m very interested to get the reaction of all you experts in the media when you see it and how it compares to our competition. I think it’s one of a kind.”

While NFC coaches had their annual breakfast Monday, it’s the AFC’s turn today and it’s likely Patriots coach Mike Vrabel will speak to the media as well. Yesterday Eagles coach Nick Siriani confirmed reports there will likely be joint practices between the Patriots and Eagles sometime during training camp.