Did Patriots owner Robert Kraft serve as 'marriage counselor' for Tom Brady-Bill Belichick relationship?

A scene from the upcoming 10-part Apple TV+ documentary series "The Dynasty" makes it clear that quarterback Tom Brady "wasn’t going to sign another contract" with the New England Patriots after the 2019 season because Brady "wasn’t going to sign up for more of" working with then-head coach Bill Belichick. 

Author Jeff Benedict's book "The Dynasty" is the basis of the series. During a recent appearance on the "Eye on Foxborough" podcast, Benedict described Patriots owner Robert Kraft as a "marriage counselor" tasked with keeping Brady and Belichick together for a 20-year run. 

"Tom misses the whole 2008 season with (an ACL and MCL tear in his left knee)," Benedict explained, as shared by Karen Guregian of MassLive. "Guys don’t usually come back from that kind of injury, not at his age. There was all kinds of data out there. Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Steve Young, Dan Marino, John Elway, all those guys, you can look at when their careers started to go down. And Tom was approaching that. And they had won three times already and had the almost perfect season. It should have ended there." 

Brady and Belichick guided New England to three Super Bowl championships from February 2002 through February 2005 and the 2007 Patriots famously entered Super Bowl XLII with an 18-0 record before they fell to the New York Giants, 17-14. While Brady and Belichick failed to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy a fourth time until February 2015, they ultimately helped the franchise claim two additional titles after Super Bowl XLIX before Brady left the Patriots as a 42-year-old six-time champion. 

"This is where the role of the owner becomes actually monumental," Benedict said about Kraft. "Because the second half of the dynasty, the thing that separates this dynasty from the (Green Bay Packers) of the 60s, the (Pittsburgh Steelers) of the 70s and the (San Francisco 49ers) of the 80s and early 90s, is the role of the owner on the back half. Tom and Bill get three more Super Bowls together because they have an owner that knows how to keep them together." 

It's now known that Kraft regrets not doing more to convince Brady and Belichick to work things out roughly four years ago and the owner parted ways with Belichick last month after New England missed the playoffs for a third time following Brady's departure. 

"The Dynasty" series premieres globally on Apple TV+ on Friday.