Brady’s gone, Bill’s gone … Kraft remains
Owner bears full responsibility now
Bob Kraft, the beloved octogenarian billionaire who began his formal connection to the New England Patriots as a season ticket holder in 1971, finally repossessed his team last week.
It was only 4 years too late.
Moving with the efficiency of Emperor Palpatine, Kraft vanquished Belichick and 24 hours later installed a rookie coach who had been promised the job in writing a year ago.
The last Patriots game not coached by Belichick was a 20-3 win over the Ravens on Jan. 3, 2000. That was five presidents ago. Current Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo was 13.
The House of Kraft had a succession plan in place for The Hoodie after committing the catastrophic mistake in not having one for Tom Brady in 2020.
And for a mere $25 million, Kraft got to say the Patriots and Bill Belichick “mutually agreed to part ways.” That hug was on the house.
Throughout the 21st Century, the subject of “Who Runs The Patriots?” was the subject of nonstop deliberation.
Moving forward, the answer is crystal clear: “Robert Kenneth Kraft.”
Meet the new boss, same as the 82-year-old boss.
And Kraft isn’t just “buying the groceries.” He’s opened his own Market Basket at One Patriot Place.
Since the Patriots mutually parted ways with/ fired Belichick, we’ve been flooded with reports offering insight into the “The Dynasty’s” collapse.
My favorite nugget was Kraft’s reaction after Tampa Tom won his seventh Super Bowl ring and forever ended the “Was It Brady or Belichick?” debate.
“Bill had told me he couldn’t play anymore and then he goes out and wins the f—ing Super Bowl,” Kraft said privately afterward, according to ESPN.
Millions of Patriots fans said the same thing, very publicly.
As we’ve written previously: both Kraft and Belichick share in The Original Sin that was losing Tom Brady.
Every Greek Orthodox priest on the planet working simultaneously cannot exorcise that demon.
Now, Kraft, through his preferred media outlets, won’t have Belichick to kick around anymore.
Belichick State Run Media wants you to believe, for example, that Bill made every single draft pick since being hired 24 years ago. Except for Mac Jones in 2021.
Kraft’s toadies want you to believe that it was Belichick who (metaphorically) drove Brady to the airport and never wanted to pay any skilled player market value.
Belichick is the greatest football coach of all time. Why would you dump someone who owns 8 Super Bowl rings and 333 NFL wins, and replace him with someone who’s never been a head coach?
The simple answer: “It was time.”
Belichick’s football brilliance and coaching mastery had grown long in the tooth.
Remember this gem about “lesser teams” from 2023:
“Rams are going through it, Tampa is going through it now. So, I’m not saying there’s anything right or wrong with it. It’s just a different way of doing things and there’s the results for doing that.”
The Rams and Bucs have won Super Bowls since the Patriots and reached the playoffs this season with winning records.
Kraft likened his relationship with Belichick to a marriage.
Every marriage begins with high expectations and a life-long commitment.
Every marriage ends in either death or divorce.
(Annulments don’t count because they mean the marriage never happened.)
Bill and Bob opted for an amicable divorce in public, letting their media acolytes of choice to sling the mud.
It sure beats death. We think. Belichick State Run Media counter-attacked during the weekend.
The mythology that Kraft pushed to draft Jones has metastasized into fact. The Athletic reported that Belichick wanted to take QB Davis Mills in Round 1 of the 2021 draft. Not Jones.
Mills was chosen by Houston with the 67th pick, in Round 3. This means the Patriots would have had to take Mills in Round 2, had Belichick purportedly gotten his way.
So who would the Patriots have taken with that No. 15 pick in 2021? Three years after the fact, no doubt it would have been the best player taken after Jones.
Meanwhile, Jones has a higher NFL career QB Rating than Mills. With Mills starting 15 games at QB in 2022, the Texans finished 3-13-1, fired their coach, and drafted QB C.J. Stroud with the No. 2 overall pick in 2023.
Funny how we never heard that Kraft twisted Belichick’s arm into taking Jones when Mac went to the Pro Bowl as a rookie.
“Let’s face it, with all due respect, the Don, rest in peace, was slipping.”
Belichick the GM passed on MVP-In-Waiting Lamar Jackson to take Sony Michel in 2018. He chose N’Keal Harry in Round 1 a year later, snubbing WRs A.J. Brown and Deebo Samuel.
Harry was last seen on the Vikings’ practice squad.
Belichick’s “genius” could no longer compensate for a roster bereft of playmakers on offense that had not won a postseason game since Super Bowl 53. If Kraft had a hidden hand in that, then he can share the blame. In the same way both combined to botch Brady’s situation five years ago.
That’s all in the past. Belichick will be back for his Patriots Hall of Fame jacket. But not before he goes to (insert 31 NFL franchise names here) to win the 15 games he needs to pass Don Shula’s record.
“Whatever’s Best For The Team” and all that.
Bill Parcells was the coach of the Patriots when Kraft took ownership on Jan. 21, 1994.
From Tuna to Mayo in 30 years.
Parcells, Brady, and Belichick all exited in lessthan-glorious fashion on Kraft’s watch.
But his team also won 6 Super Bowls. Call it a push.
As we learned watching “The Crown,” Elizabeth Regina never stepped down from the throne because she promised her subjects a lifetime of service.
Robert Rex isn’t going anywhere, either.
We now know it was the players who made the Patriot Way succeed, not the other way around.
It’s now fully on Mr. Kraft to make sure that the Patriot Way can succeed again.