Bill Belichick is one of the most decorated head coaches of the league and has achieved numerous accomplishments in his coaching career with the league. The future Hall of Fame head coach has eight Super Bowl champions under his name and has set multiple league records as well.
Belichick was the head coach of the New England Patriots for 24 years and led the squad to incredible levels of success during his tenure with the team. The Patriots went on to win six Super Bowl championships. However, the club decided to terminate their contract with the coach, as last season, the Patriots ended with a score of 4-13.
The Patriots will be spearheaded in the 2024 NFL season under the newly appointed head coach, Jerod Mayo, who played his entire career with the Patriots from 2008 to 2015. According to ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham, and Jeremy Fowler, the relationship between Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Belichick has “bad blood” and its nature was not hidden in the league.
Belichick was both the head coach and general manager of the Patriots and his leadership style was one of the factors which derailed his hiring as the head coach after he left the Patriots. However, according to the detailed report by ESPN, Atlanta Falcons were zeroing in on Belichick as their head coach and the interest was high from the owner of the Falcons, Arthur Blank.
#Falcons owner Arthur Blank called #Patriots owner Robert Kraft after his first meeting with Bill Belichick this offseason for their HC job.
Kraft warned Blank not to trust Belichick.
A source close to Belichick said Kraft "was a big part" of why the Falcons passed on hiring… pic.twitter.com/UVSVrmYJzx
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) April 17, 2024
As per the report, Blank spoke to Robert Kraft, who is a close friend of his and during one of those conversations, Kraft warned Blank not to trust Belichick. According to ESPN, “But in a conversation with Blank, Kraft delivered a stark assessment of Belichick’s character, according to a source who spoke to two people: a close Kraft friend and a longtime Belichick confidant. The source quoted the Belichick source as saying, “Robert called Arthur to warn him not to trust Bill.” That account was backed up, the source said, by the close Kraft friend. Multiple sources said that Kraft spoke with “some candor” to Blank about Belichick, though the sources declined to elaborate. One source close to Belichick said Kraft “was a big part” of why the Falcons passed on hiring him.”
According to the report, Kraft also warned Blank that you will “never have a warm conversation with” the former head coach. A source of Falcons also shared, “Blank likes coaches who feel part of a family and it wasn’t going to be that way with Bill.”
A spokesperson for the Patriots owner had however denied that Kraft had shared these things regarding Belichick during the conversations he had with Falcons owner Arthur Blank. Stacey James who is a Patriots spokesperson mentioned, “Robert steadfastly denies saying anything negative to Arthur Blank about Bill Belichick after Robert and Bill mutually agreed to part ways. In fact, Robert advocated for Bill to get the job.”
In the end, the Falcons decided to move on with Raheem Morris, who was later appointed the head coach.
