WHY IS BOB KRAFT SUCH A BITTER MAN? BILL BELICHICK CONTINUES TO REMIND US
Rather than appreciate six Super Bowl victories, the New England Patriots owner says hiring Belichick was a “big risk,” which prompted Belichick to one-up him — he took the “big risk” in joining Kraft
By now, there should be a mutual understanding. Bill Belichick and Bob Kraft are old men who should enjoy the six Super Bowls they won together. Neither wants to be seen as a crab, especially when both could share wise tales in, say, the younger women they have dated. Kraft is 84 and has done it for years. Belichick is 73 and has become so smitten with Jordon Hudson that Snoop Dogg is preparing another viral crack.
“I remember, what was it — when Bill Belichick’s girl wasn’t even born yet,” he said.
Maybe Snoop can focus on the man’s boat. It used to be called “VIII Rings,” for his eight championships as a head coach and an assistant. Now it’s called “I + VIII Rings,” perhaps referring to Hudson’s engagement ring. Any day now, Hudson will be walking on campus in Chapel Hill and hear a rowdy frat guy invite her to an overnight party with drugs and sex and Tar Heels basketball videos.
Bill?
Instead, the owner and former coach of the New England Patriots cannot stop sniping at each other. Six years have passed since they won a final title. Might they start celebrating the best dynasty in NFL history? Not Kraft, who fired Belichick last year and cannot stop insulting him in the media. He appeared last month on the “Dudes on Dudes” podcast with two of his former players, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. Kraft said hiring Belichick in the first place was a “big risk.”
Why? He ended up hiring the best coach in league history. A big risk?
“I gave up a No. 1 draft pick for a coach that had only won a little over 40 percent of his games to get him out," Kraft said. "I don't know if there are any (New York) Jets fans here. But I think getting Bill Belichick to come to the Patriots in 1999 was a big risk, and I got hammered in the Boston area, but he was with us for 24 years. And we did OK.”
As he awaits his debut at North Carolina, Belichick was asked about Kraft’s comments by ESPN. He could have ignored them. For once, he didn’t. “As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job,” Belichick said. “I already had an opportunity to be the head coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable.
“I had been warned by multiple previous Patriots' coaches, as well as other members of other NFL organizations and the media, that the New England job was going to come with many internal obstacles. I made it clear that we would have to change the way the team was managed to regain the previously attained success.”
Belichick did precisely that, dramatically reducing the roster payroll and turning the Patriots into a marvel of the salary-cap system. He made Kraft a multiple champion and a richer man. “I appreciated Robert giving me the opportunity to make those changes and build a program that was consistent with my vision for a championship team," Belichick told ESPN, which asked him about Kraft’s “big risk” assertion.
“You’ll have to ask Robert,” he said.
Since they parted ways, Kraft has continued his painful effort to gain induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This is his 14th year, in an obsession that is wearing on him. He wants Canton. The Selection Committee, filled with media members, has said no. We can assume Belichick will be honored as part of the 2026 class. Tom Brady awaits his Hall appearance in 2028.
Belichick, in. Brady, in.
Kraft keeps crashing. He won’t even place Belichick into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
At some point, the owner will hail himself for hiring Belichick. True, he was 36-44 in Cleveland from 1991 to 1995. True, he had landed as head coach of the Jets before saying no and heading to New England. “The Jets were a solid team after three years of rebuilding under Bill Parcells, which included an AFC Championship Game appearance in (January) 1999," Belichick told ESPN. “Meanwhile, the Patriots organization had dismantled their 1996 AFC Championship team and became one of the worst in the AFC. It didn't help that they were $10 million over the cap heading into my first season as Head Coach in 2000.”
That was a shot at Kraft, who would not have won six championships — and maybe not one — without Belichick in charge. It was the coach’s plan to replace Drew Bledsoe with Brady. The “big risk” was the ballsiest move in football history.
We will watch the upcoming season. Belichick might go 7-5 in college, starting Sept. 1. Kraft is waiting for new coach Mike Vrabel to lift the Patriots out of last place. Brady will make $37.5 million to say nothing on Fox Sports. As one, everything they accomplished should be remembered as golden.
But Kraft is bitter. And Belichick will keep pointing it out, as he should.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.