Belichick and Mr. Kraft Seem to Be Having a Public Feud Over Who Took the Biggest 'Risk' When They Joined Forces in 2000

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

When you've been a part of the greatest collaboration in the history of your chosen field, it's understandable that you'd be proud of your role in it. Especially when that working relationship lasted a quarter of a century and was the most successful ever. Hell, Lennon & McCartney seemed to spend the entire decade of the '70s throwing shade at each other. (Lennon famously referred to Paul's most popular album "Band on the Rag.") And they barely spent 10 years on their collaboration. 

So it should come as a surprise to no one that the two architects of the greatest Dynasty in modern American sports would each be fiercely protective of the part they played. And that is the case:

Source -  Bill Belichick has rarely reacted publicly to comments made about him by Patriots owner Robert Kraft since the two men parted ways 18 months ago after a remarkable 24-year NFL dynasty in New England.

But on the heels of recent comments by Kraft that he took a "big risk" by hiring Belichick in 1999, Belichick responded in a statement to ESPN that it was he who took a "big risk" by joining a flailing franchise with few resources that was $10 million over the salary cap.

"As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job," Belichick told ESPN in response to questions. "I already had an opportunity to be the Head Coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable." 

Belichick said he was urged by scores of people to reject Kraft's offer and remain with the Jets, who had just hired him, despite the instability.

"I had been warned by multiple previous Patriots' coaches, as well as other members of other NFL organizations and the media, that the New England job was going to come with many internal obstacles," Belichick said. "I made it clear that we would have to change the way the team was managed to regain the previously attained success."

Asked during a recent appearance to name his best decision in three decades as Patriots owner, Kraft immediately mentioned his decision in 1999 to hire Belichick -- and the "big risk" he took to do so.

"The one that got questioned the most was in 1999," Kraft said on the "Dudes on Dudes" podcast co-hosted by Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski last month at Fanatics Fest.

"I gave up a No. 1 draft pick for a coach that had only won a little over 40% of his games to get him out," Kraft said. "I don't know if there are any Jets fans here. I think getting Bill Belichick to come to the Patriots in 1999 was a big risk, and I got hammered in the Boston area, but he was with us for 24 years."

The comments from both of these great men can be summed up in three simple words:

They're both right. 

I mean, spot the lie here. By either of them. Yes, Mr. Kraft took a huge gamble giving up a 1st round pick on a guy that no one in the Boston media wanted. For real, the beat writers of the age like Ron "Ctrl+C" Borges and Kevin "Belichick is Duplicitous Pond Scum" were lobbying for Chan Gailey. They made it out to seem like pure lunacy to pay such a heavy price for a man who (altogether now) "failed in Cleveland." Which, by the way, is an argument still being made to this day. 

For Belichick's part, Mr. Kraft was being portrayed as an in-over-his-head rich kid with an inflated ego that he couldn't supress even if it meant getting along with the great Bill Parcells. No less than the Speaker of the Massachusetts House had recently called Mr. Kraft "a fatass billionaire." His only other coaching hire was Pete Carroll, and he was deemed an abject failure in the press, who were still in the last vestiges of having any sort of influence in this region. Belichick walked away from a solid job with the Jets, who were still a contending team. More important still, he had been paid a fortune to stay on in New York and be heir to Parcells' throne. He left to go work for a man who still had that New Owner smell and an uncertain future in New England. 

In short, it was not an easy hire by any stretch:

This is the ultimate occasion where both things are true at once. Both men met during the Parcells' regime. They made a personal connection that became a bond. And when the time was right, they took a leap of faith with one another that changed the trajectory of both their lives, of their franchise, of this region, of Barstool Sports, and the course of history itself. And for that, we can all be eternally grateful. 

Now let's all please just get along.