Did Patriots owner Robert Kraft warn the Falcons against signing Bill Belichick?

When you take a look at the career of Bill Belichick, it’s hard to understand why he doesn’t have a job in the NFL. With almost 30 seasons in the NFL, 333 wins, and six Super Bowl titles, few can compare. Somehow, the 72-year-old remains unemployed. This of course begs the question, is there something else at work?

Did Robert Kraft sabotage Bill Belichick’s job opportunities?

So, the NFL offseason is trudging along and there is one glaring question that remains unanswered, and quite frankly will likely stay that way: Why doesn’t anyone want former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick? As we’ve already established, Belichick is one of the greatest coaches in NFL History. Yet, here we are. What’s strange, however, is that it might not entirely be down to him. According to ESPN, Patriots owner Robert Kraft didn’t exactly give Belichick a shining reference when speaking to Atlanta Falcons owner, Arthur Blank.

To be clear, the Falcons were at one point heavily linked with Belichick but ultimately decided to go with Raheem Morris. It is now understood that the major sticking point where Belichick was concerned was the level of internal change that would be required by the franchise in order to accommodate his hiring. As we know, the former Patriots coach is one who has enjoyed the final say on not just football decisions, but personnel and coaching ones as well. Indeed, reports also indicated that Falcons’ employees didn’t even rank Belichick among their top candidates when polled on choices.

So what did Robert Kraft say to Arthur Blank?

For context, it should be said that Kraft and Blank have maintained a close relationship for many years. To that end, it’s not surprising that the latter reached out to his friend, a man who previously employed the coach he was now considering as a candidate. It was at that point that Kraft reportedly listed off several reasons why Belichick was not the guy. You can see some of ESPN’s take below:

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.

With the above in mind, it’s hard not to entertain the idea that the Patriots owner has been less than transparent when it comes to his feelings about Belichick. Consider for a moment that he’s spoken highly of his former employee publicly, but we now have reports that paint a different picture. Whatever the case, we do know that Belichick - according to reports - had no idea about what Kraft was reported to have said. Ultimately, whether Kraft rained on Belichick’s parade is irrelevant, the coach still has no team. What he does have is a wish list that includes the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Eagles. As you likely know, each of those teams has a coach who is about to be in the hot seat if they don’t start winning, something Belichick is certainly aware of. Add to that the endorsement from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones back in January and you’ve got yourself an interesting proposition.