ESPN reported Wednesday that Patriots owner Robert Kraft played a role in the Falcons’ coaching search and affected Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s ultimate decision not to hire Bill Belichick last January.
Blank spoke to Kraft at least twice over the phone after interviewing Belichick on Jan. 15, ESPN reported. Kraft allegedly called Blank to “warn him not to trust Bill,” according to a source who spoke separately to a close Kraft friend and longtime Belichick confidant, per ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Jeremy Fowler. Blank considers Kraft his closest friend in ownership circles, according to the report.
Later on Wednesday, the Patriots denied ESPN’s reporting. While no response was reported from Blank or the Falcons, back in February — after the team hired Raheem Morris as head coach — Blank said, “Let me say this and make it absolutely clear, there were 14 candidates. It was not any one candidate. ... Each were competing against each other. We selected the one that we thought for a whole variety of reasons was the best choice for us.”
Belichick and the Patriots parted ways in January after a 24-year partnership. Belichick was left without a job during the 2024 head-coaching hiring cycle, when he only interviewed with Atlanta.
Less than two weeks after Arthur Smith was fired Jan. 8 after three seasons as head coach for the Falcons, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that signs pointed toward Belichick as the franchise’s No. 1 target to replace Smith. However, after Raheem’s hiring, Blank noted: “I was impressed with (Belichick), as I was with a number of the candidates. We just felt, all things considered for a variety of reasons, that Raheem Morris (clearly) was the best choice for us.”
Patriots vice president of communications Stacey James provided a statement denying ESPN’s report.
“Robert steadfastly denies saying anything negative to Arthur Blank about Bill Belichick after Robert and Bill mutually agreed to part ways,” James told ESPN. “In fact, Robert advocated for Bill to get the job.”
James was asked if Kraft had ever criticized Belichick to Blank. James said Kraft had no recollection of doing so, but acknowledged he might have done so prior to January.
“It would not surprise me to learn that owners sometimes lament to those close to them when their teams are struggling,” James told ESPN, “but Robert Kraft never questioned Bill’s character or trust when talking with Arthur Blank. Trust is important to Robert. He wouldn’t have employed Coach Belichick for the past 24 years if he ever questioned his trust.”
Multiple sources told ESPN that Kraft “spoke with “some candor” about Belichick to Blank, but those sources declined to elaborate. Those sources told ESPN that Kraft relayed to Blank that “you’ll never have a warm conversation with” Belichick, something former Patriots head coach Bill Parcells told his former boss in 1996 when Kraft wanted to hire Belichick.
Another source close to Kraft told ESPN that the Patriots owner “found Bill to be extremely difficult and obstinate and kind of stubborn and, in the end, not worthy of his trust. And also very, very, very arrogant.” The same source said that he didn’t know if Kraft warned Blank about Belichick, but that Robert and Jonathan Kraft felt “betrayed” by their former head coach.
“I don’t think they’d try to hurt Belichick,” the source said, per ESPN. “But I don’t think they’d try to help him either. They weren’t going to try to sink him. He was finished as an effective head coach. Just look at his last four years in New England. A disaster … If you’re Arthur Blank, why do you want the headaches?”
According to the report, had Blank hired Belichick, he would have offset the reported $25 million annual salary owed to Belichick by the Krafts this year. Belichick’s contract with the Patriots reportedly ran through 2024.
The Falcons, then under coach Dan Quinn, faced Belichick and the Patriots in Super Bowl 51 on Feb. 5, 2017. The Falcons built a 28-3 lead before the Patriots erased the largest deficit in Super Bowl history and won 34-28 in overtime.
Belichick’s legacy in New England was marred by two major cheating scandals and several minor ones. The Patriots lost draft picks and were fined more than $1 million during his tenure.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff coverage contributed to this Tribune News Service report from the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed.
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