Bill Belichick offers strong response to Robert Kraft after 'big risk' comment

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft raised eyebrows when he recently said during an appearance on the "Dudes on Dudes" podcast that getting now-legendary head coach Bill Belichick "to come to the Patriots in [2000] was a big risk." 

For a piece produced by ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. that was published on Wednesday, Belichick offered a strong response to Kraft.

"As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job," Belichick said via a statement. "I already had an opportunity to be the head coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable."

Belichick famously resigned as the Jets' head coach in January 2000 without having ever coached a game for the team. Numerous reports have indicated his "distaste for the Jets" is related to his feelings about team owner Woody Johnson. 

"The Jets were a solid team after three years of rebuilding under Bill Parcells, which included an AFC Championship Game appearance in [January] 1999," Belichick added. "Meanwhile, the Patriots organization had dismantled their 1996 AFC Championship team and became one of the worst in the AFC. It didn't help that they were $10M over the cap heading into my first season as head coach in 2000."

Belichick is widely credited for the Patriots making quarterback Tom Brady the 199th overall pick of the 2000 NFL Draft. Together, Belichick and Brady guided New England to six Super Bowl championships before Brady left as a free agent in March 2020. The perception exists that Kraft blames Belichick for the fact that Brady didn't retire a one-club man.  

Brady ultimately signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and helped them win Super Bowl LV in his first season with the organization. Meanwhile, Belichick's Patriots missed the playoffs three times across four years before he and Kraft allegedly "mutually agreed to part ways" in January 2024.  

In the spring of 2024, a report suggested that Kraft played a role in Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank hiring Raheem Morris as Atlanta's head coach over Belichick that offseason. Kraft previously insisted he looks "forward to the privilege of putting (Belichick) into the Patriots Hall of Fame one day in the future," but Belichick has not yet received that honor. 

During the podcast, Kraft mentioned that he "gave up a No. 1 draft pick" to acquire Belichick's rights after Belichick accumulated a 36-44 record while serving as head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991 through the 1995 season. At the time he took over in New England, Belichick was respected as one of the NFL's best defensive minds. 

"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 told ESPN. "I made it clear that we would have to change the way the team was managed to regain the previously attained success."

Such changes helped the Patriots become the NFL's first dynasty of the 2000s. Despite the fact that Belichick no longer works for Kraft, it seems the two are still quite "sick of each other" as of this summer.