In the end, the ongoing nip-and-tuck battle between Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former Patriots coach Bill Belichick boils down to two now elderly men who can’t put their egos aside and simply enjoy their mutual accomplishments. Those accomplishments included six Super Bowl championships, which should be enough for the pair to let bygones be bygones.
Instead, we have the 73-year-old Belichick taking offense at the 84-year-old Kraft suggesting that it was a risk for the Patriots to hire Belichick back in 1999. Sigh.
Kraft, speaking on the “Dudes on Dudes” podcast with Julian Edelman, was talking about hiring Belichick and pointed out, “It was a big risk and I got hammered in the Boston media.” Not only did the Patriots have to give the Jets a first-round pick to hire Belichick, who had already agreed to coach the Jets, but Belichick had already flopped as the Browns head coach, going 36-44 in five seasons.
Bill Belichick: ‘I Took a Big Risk’
It’s worth noting that Kraft made the assertion when answering a question from Edelman about what his best decision was as owner of the Patriots. He did not hesitate in pointing to the hiring of Belichick as the best decision. So he was praising Belichick.
But Belichick–who reportedly was not hired for the Falcons job two years ago, in part, because Kraft had warned owner Arthur Blank not to trust Belichick–could not take the compliment and instead focused on the fact that Kraft said he was a risky hire.
“As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job,” the ever-petty Belichick retorted in a statement to ESPN. “I already had an opportunity to be the Head Coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable.”
Patriots Were Nothing Without Tom Brady
Fact is, the hiring of Belichick was a risk for both sides. The Patriots had gone from Bill Parcells to Pete Carroll and had only middling success in the previous few seasons. There was little guarantee that Belichick would be rewarded jumping from the Jets to the Patriots, and had damaged his reputation in doing so.
Kraft is right, too, though, in that Belichick came to New England without much of a resume.
Both men miss the point of their success entirely, though, by sniping at each other over silly issues like this. Fact is, neither would have done much of anything in the NFL universe if they had not lucked into a sixth-round quarterback, Tom Brady, who got a chance after Drew Bledsoe was injured.
It was Brady who led the Patriots to six Super Bowl titles, not Kraft or Belichick. Those two were in charge of the Patriots for one season before Brady’s emergence, and for four seasons after his departure. Their combined non-Brady record with the Patriots: 34-49.
It was never about risk for either Kraft or Belichick. It was always about the pure luck of landing Brady.
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