Kraft also directly addressed reports that suggested Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was upset at the Patriots for letting Welker get away, which he dismissed as false.

Asked if he had spoken to Brady, or felt compelled to speak with him about Welker's defection because Brady had restructured his contract to create more salary cap space for the team, Kraft said, "I don't answer to Tom Brady. He's an important member of the team and we've chatted. He did what he did to put us in the best position to build a team around him and win games.

"It has been reported that he, or people close to him, have made certain comments. None of that is true. I've spoken with him directly. Whoever is creating that impression is mistaken."

Asked if Brady was upset, Kraft responded, "No. I mean, we're all upset that he's not with us. But we're building a team. He never put a demand or expected anything when he did what he did. He never put quid pro quos, and to be honest, we wouldn't have accepted them had he done that. He did what he thought and what he did was tremendous. It's given our team a real competitive advantage to be in a position to win. And now it's how well our personnel people make the decisions."

Welker agreed to a two-year, $12 million contract with the Broncos last Wednesday, on the second day of free agency. The Patriots' last offer to Welker before free agency was two years for $10 million, with incentives that could have increased it to $16 million, according to Kraft.

In a conversation with Comcast SportsNet New England at the NFL's annual meeting, Dunn, Welker's agent, said the Patriots never made an offer.

Kraft called Dunn's contention "bogus."

"It just isn't true," remarked Kraft, who had red marks on his nose, cheek and lip, which he said came from the removal of pre-cancerous tissue.

Kraft went into detail of the timeline that led to Welker ultimately signing with the Broncos and the Patriots quickly turning to St. Louis Rams receiver Danny Amendola to replace him, while also contending that the Patriots' last offer to Welker was better than the deal he received with the Broncos.

"Wes Welker, just to be very clear, was our first choice to be with the team," he said in a question-and-answer session with reporters that became testy at one point. "When free agency came, and his agents kept on insisting on a very high number that was beyond our number, we had to go work alternatives. Our second alternative was Danny Amendola. He had offers from other teams. So we made a judgment that Wes unfortunately probably wouldn't be with us. We made this commitment to Amendola.

"Wednesday, I personally got a call from Wes and he told me about this offer from Denver. He called Bill [Belichick] as well. We met and we chatted. We have a lot of people, we've committed a lot of money to this inside position – you have Gronk [Rob Gronkowski], you have [Aaron] Hernandez, you have Danny [Amendola] now – it was just unfortunately a little bit too late.