The Bill Belichick-related ‘He said, she said’ continues

A new story from ESPN looks into Belichick not finding a new job after leaving New England.

On Wednesday, one day after his 72nd birthday, ESPN published a story about Bill Belichick not landing a head coaching position during this year’s hiring cycle. The story is a deep dive into why a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, whose credentials as a coach are unmatched in the NFL, still remains unsigned after leaving the New England Patriots in January.

It also is more “He said, she said” chatter surrounding both Belichick and his former team. While a significant portion of the story is focused on the Atlanta Falcons, the only team with whom Belichick actually interviewed, the Patriots — or, more precisely, their ownership — are also mentioned extensively.

There are quite a few eyebrow-raising quotes in the story, even though none of them are attributed directly to Belichick, Robert Kraft or Jonathan Kraft. The clearest Patriots-related quote comes from communications director Stacey James in regards to one of the story’s most headline-worthy claims: that Patriots owner Robert Kraft had an active hand in his long-time head coach not landing in Atlanta.

Kraft apparently was in contact with Falcons owner Arthur Blank, and ended up giving a less-than-friendly assessment of Belichick.

[I]n 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.

The veracity of those claims is, obviously, impossible to determine from the outside. What they do, however, is put both Belichick and Kraft into a dubious light.

The aforementioned Stacey James going on the record to deny the accusations should therefore not be seen as a surprise:

“Robert steadfastly denies saying anything negative to Arthur Blank about Bill Belichick after Robert and Bill mutually agreed to part ways,” Patriots spokesman Stacey James said. “In fact, Robert advocated for Bill to get the job.” …

“It would not surprise me to learn that owners sometimes lament to those close to them when their teams are struggling,” James said, “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.”

Whether Kraft was actually actively preventing Bill Belichick from landing the Atlanta head coaching gig is anybody’s guess; the story by ESPN reporters Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Jeremy Fowler also suggests that high-ranking Falcons executives — CEO Rich McKay and general manager Terry Fontenot among them — were worried about their own influence within the organization would Belichick come aboard.

Ultimately, the report adds just another chapter to a story that has been written ever since Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick took the stage at Gillette Stadium to announce a mutual parting of the ways.

So far, that story already includes the former apparently being unhappy about his coach since well before a disappointing 4-13 season in 2023. It includes the latter being displeased about his own standing at One Patriot Place. And it includes a documentary series that has seen its fair share of criticism.

Of course, with the exception of The Dynasty, which seemingly aimed at controversy more than a retelling of the sport’s greatest two-decade run, most of the story since January has been told through second-hand accounts. At least publicly, Bill Belichick has flown under the radar since departing the Patriots, while Robert Kraft spoke positively about him during one of his few media appearances at the NFL annual meeting in March.

A parting of the ways was always bound to happen, and both parties have tried to present it to be an amicable one. Naturally, though, with every new story such as this one that comes out that picture does get distorted a bit.

Here’s the question, however: Does any of this matter from a pure football perspective? Well… maybe? To a degree?

Fact is that the Patriots are committed to a serious rebuild under new leadership both on the coaching staff and in the personnel department. The Falcons hired Raheem Morris as their new head coach, while other teams with coaching vacancies went in other, mostly understandable, directions. Belichick appears to be eying other opportunities, both in media — he is reportedly “expected to sign a deal to do analysis for Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions” — and possible in the 2025 hiring cycle.

Robert Kraft may have indeed hurt Belichick’s chances at becoming Falcons head coach. Maybe the two sides were never as close to joining forces as it seemed anyway. Depending on who is asked, the answers to those questions might differ significantly.

It still doesn’t diminish what the Kraft-Belichick partnership accomplished in their 24 years together. And at the end of the day, that is worth a little post-breakup drama.