Who took the bigger risk (for the Patriots)?

[Pape]

considering BBs prior track record, Kraft did take a risk on Belichick...

considering RKKs prior behavior meddling in football stuff, Belichick did take a risk leaving the jete to come here...

Both statements can be, and are, true at the same time...

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I personally took a bigger risk than either of them, trying to navigate all that ****ing game day traffic on route one...

 

[ScottishPatriots]

Although in my eyes the best player in the league is always more valuable than the best coach at least the Brady/Belichick debate has happened before we've seen the who's more responsible the coach or player debates dozens of times before.

Has any other owner chimed in so much for his share of the credit? Can we expect Clark Hunt barging in between Reid and Mahomes and being like don't forget about me?

Robert acts like he doesn't still own the team maybe he should stop looking back for credit and start thinking about the future and bringing this franchise back to the top table of the NFL.

 

[Grogan14]

Kraft and BB knew each other. Neither was taking a big risk

 

[Triumph]

BB took the biggest risk.

Players wont put up with baloney and cheese sandwiches. Mac & cheese either. Even though Bob made it in his factory.

 

[Boomer B]

Let's be real in the pissing contest it's not even a debate Belichick took the bigger risk his head coaching career was over if it didn't work, Kraft didn't take any risk he can just hire and fire as many coaches as he wants and continue to print money as many franchises over the years have proven.

I mean all the evidence you need is Kraft & Mayo, both took a risk now one has already has a do-over and the other will probably never coach again.

Woody Johnson has proven to be a boob who doesn't know what he's doing and still has made billions, only one job out of owner and head coach requires winning to make money and have a prolonged stint in it.

Belichick’s head coaching career would have been over if the Jets job didn’t work either, and it wasn’t like he had a great reputation in the league at that point. Teams weren’t knocking down the doors to get Bill Belichick.

Kraft deserves credit for taking that chance against what others were recommending to him, and Belichick deserves credit for recognizing out of his 2 options what the best path was. In terms of risk I think it was more of a risk for Kraft as he had many options he could have picked, Belichick only had 2 options and one of them was the JETE.

 

[Real fan 02]

Bob hired the best young coach in the NFL.. what was the risk? The media didn’t like him… who cares. If you listen to the media morons you deserve to lose.

Bill if you remember wasn't always that way with the media he was alot more forthcoming in his earlier Patriots days.. as time went on he adapted to the NE media and gave little information. This is older than 2 day old tortillas.. both men shared success together and they need to patch **** up.. tomorrow isn't promised today.

 

[Real fan 02]

BB took the biggest risk.

Players wont put up with baloney and cheese sandwiches. Mac & cheese either. Even though Bob made it in his factory.

Great points... I remember zolak saying even worse the training camp conditions down in Rhode island staying in dorms!! Like wtf.. then in the mid to late 90s the end zone motel..

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Bill Belichick fires back at Robert Kraft, says it was he who took the 'big risk' by taking Patriots job

Kraft recently said that he took a "big risk" in trading for Belichick in 1999

www.cbssports.com

 

[Ring 6]

Curious what the breakout of that is by year. Unused cap space wasn't allowed to be rolled over until the 2011, CBA, I believe. I also think there's been an explosion of the use of void years and signing bonuses to defer cap hits in the last decade. I think part of BB's problem on the GM side was that he had a pretty strong cash to cap philosophy that I think became incredibly outdated by the end of his time here.

Just anecdotally, I'd guess that they're dead last by a pretty wide margin since like 2011 but in the decade before that it wasn't as exaggerated.

I don’t think it was his cash to cap philosophy, I think it was the budget he was allowed.

 

[UGAPatsfan]

Interesting that Bill found the need to rebut. The **** measuring that's going on is ridiculous. Kraft took a risk to hire Bill. Bill took a risk to work for Kraft.

Kraft's continued campaign for Canton is getting tiresome. How abut you build another winning team and STFU about how great you are/were?

This too. His groveling for HOF is not only pathetic, but likely the exact reason he isn’t already in it.

 

[Froob]

Bill is embarrassing himself at this point

 

[Steve102]

This too. His groveling for HOF is not only pathetic, but likely the exact reason he isn’t already in it.

I'm over all of it. He's too busy going "See? Look what I did!". I don't recall any other owner grandstanding like this, after the fact. There's plenty that runs their mouths while it's going on, but RKK was smart enough to shut up and do what he was basically told to do; shut up and get out of the way. Now he wants to crow and say "Look what I did!"

 

[Steve102]

Bill Belichick fires back at Robert Kraft, says it was he who took the 'big risk' by taking Patriots job

Kraft recently said that he took a "big risk" in trading for Belichick in 1999

www.cbssports.com

Hey, let's get them to merge this with the other thread that's discussing this already.

 

[Wozzy]

Bill is embarrassing himself at this point

Bob made an entire documentary to bash his former coach while Bill said nothing… and you think Bill is the issue?

BB haters unite!

 

[signbabybrady]

Bill is embarrassing himself at this point

Kraft isn't?

 

[signbabybrady]

I'm going to say they both took risks. I don't know if it was actually 50/50 but that's what I'll say.

 

[stcjones]

I think Bob Kraft took the bigger risk in hiring Belichick….. primarily because the last time he held a head coaching position it was a dumpster fire. I think everyone knew he was a good defensive coordinator, but as far as head coaching, he didn’t do the best in Cleveland. Belichick obviously knew what he was getting in the New England Patriots and that was a great owner and the position with the Jets would’ve been an absolute mess for him… Would’ve been interesting to see what history would’ve been like for him if he had stayed with the Jets… How long until he got fired?

 

[h0c2000]

I'd figure Bill would be preparing for the upcoming season but apparently he's mailing it in like he did since 2020. Those rabbit ears are working overtime.

 

[Froob]

Kraft isn't?

Kraft has won the breakup though. Bill couldn't even get another NFL job.

 

[Ian]

Some additional stuff on this from today's thing:

Patriots Daily Notebook 7/16: Belichick Lashes Back at Kraft's Comments, New Patriots Trailer Dropped | PatsFans.com

When it comes to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former head coach Bill Belichick, it feels like there's been no shortage of drama between the two over the last year. And it continues.

www.patsfans.com

Belichick made it sound like the Jets were the less risky option:

“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 told ESPN. “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 $10 million over the cap heading into my first season as Head Coach in 2000.”

But his comments after that didn't sound like they were a better situation:

Despite playing up the Jets in that comment, it definitely didn’t feel like Belichick wanted to remain in New York. He cited uncertainty with ownership and Parcells’ role among things he wasn’t happy about.

”Maybe you can answer this for me,” he said in a telephone interview at the time with the New York Times. ”Who’s going to own the Jets? What’s Steve Gutman’s role in this? What’s Bill Parcells’s role in this? Maybe someone else has the answers. I don’t.”

Still, New England did explore other options. They interviewed then-Raiders defensive coordinator Willie Shaw, as well as then Ravens offensive coordinator Marvin Lewis. Former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Gary Crowton was another name that was mentioned a fair amount, and was said to be a candidate.

But one name that got a lot of play here was former Carolina Panthers head coach Dom Capers. Based on the reports at the time, it sounded like Capers could have very well been Pete Carroll’s replacement had Belichick not been allowed out of his deal with the Jets. The rumor at the time was also that Tom Donahoe would have been hired to take over the front office with Capers, but none of that ultimately came to fruition.

Instead, an eventual phone call between Kraft and Parcells saw the Patriots give up a first-round pick to allow Belichick to become the head coach here, and the rest is obviously history. Although some might forget that there was also a stipulation that had Parcells returned to coach the Jets before at least 2002, that pick would have reverted back to New England.

And as for Kraft being worried:

Kraft didn’t seem worried at the time, and even went so far as to institute a 20% ticket price increase the following month after Belichick’s hiring. That in and of itself was a significant risk, especially for a fan base that had watched the Patriots fall from a Super Bowl contender to a .500 team the previous season.

The above is from February of 2000:

Morning News and Notes 2/24 | PatsFans.com

Going to a Patriots game will cost fans a little more after the Patriots announced that ticket prices will be increasing about 20%. Robert Kraft explained the move in a letter to season ticket holders.

www.patsfans.com

He did take a lot of heat from the media locally, especially both during and after that first 5-11 season (they lost four-straight twice and got swept by the Jets that year), but this was well before talk radio or social media. Still, you have to give Kraft credit for giving Belichick time to weed out the wrong guys and bring in the right ones. If he pulled the plug early, we would have missed out significantly.