Kraft regrets giving Belichick so much power without “checks and balances” in place.

[SVN]

You don’t want to fall back on that comparison, trust me. Not only were there TONS of hard feelings in the immediate aftermath, it took 25 years for Jerruh to put Johnson In the Ring of Honor. Ex-players were threatening to boycott team events so yeah, there were some grudges there.

Sure. You might know more about that time than I do . But i dont see a doc where jones is sitting down and ****ting on his HC after winning 3 SBs and then firing him or going pole to post talking the same thing. Maybe it happened in the aftermath. No doubt grudges are there and they might be forever. But his portryal is very weird.
Oddly the two people he constantly says who didnt get along -- BB and brady- barely say anything about their private relationship but kraft cant keep quiet . He also talked about how brady came to his house and cried -once again

 

[TheRainMaker]

This would be my choice.

He is a good example of making a name for himself and not known under anyone else's coaching tree. He has proven to be one of the top OC's in the league. This was how HC's used to be hired back in the day. Now it's normal to have guys like Mayo cut in line and become HC's.

 

[signbabybrady]

The dysfunction was designed by the Krafts.

Internally they had coaches submarining the head man. No good could come of that. If the owner tells the DC he's firing the HC and replacing him with the DC in the middle of the season, and gameplans are being made while circumventing the HC, that is a high level of dysfinction RIGGED by the owner.

Not to mention foisting the most gutless QB in NFL history on the HC despite the HCs clear attempt to move on by signing a better QB.

This is par for the course from Kraft, what he's done since he jammed Guerrero into the locker room.

It really is quite evident too. He ran Parcells out of town, the back stairs were always open and in use during Pete's tenure, he basically told Bill he was going to get fired for choosing Brady over Drew if he wasn't right, we all know how that worked, and now it appears Kraft is right back to being dysfunctional. The only thing that will save us is Maye.

But at least he didn't move the team so he forever gets a pass for that.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

What exactly are "checks and balances" for a GM? Someone has to be the final decision maker. You can't split a draft pick between 2 players. To some extent free agency is an either-or. It's unrealistic to think you'll get an organizational consensus on everything. Someone has to be the guy that makes the final call at the end of the day. You can't "check and balance" the final decision maker. Then he's not the final decision maker. Someone needs to wear that hat and be judged on the results. BB did a phenomenal job in the role for probably a little over a decade and a half. After that, it really started to slip. Coaching staff hires, draft picks, free agency, all of it seemed to fall off a cliff. Results were bad and it was justified to move on.

With the way teams manipulate the cap and the sheer growth of it, I think BB's ability to build adaptable teams got lost a bit. Teams don't make tough calls on the roster anymore, they just add void years and make it the next regime's problem to deal with the dead money. It's reduced the overall depth of free agency and minimized the need to deal with change, which was something BB did better than anyone else. I also think the schematics of the game have changed to where BB was no longer an innovator. He's smart enough to coach against it, but he wasn't an aggressor anymore either as a GM or a coach.

 

[upstater1]

It really is quite evident too. He ran Parcells out of town, the back stairs were always open and in use during Pete's tenure, he basically told Bill he was going to get fired for choosing Brady over Drew if he wasn't right, we all know how that worked, and now it appears Kraft is right back to being dysfunctional. The only thing that will save us is Maye.

I don't know of a single meddling NFL owner who has been successful once the architects were dumped.

Jerry Jones has been a disaster since Jimmy Johnson left.
Dan Snyder imploded.
The biggest meddler right now is Tepper, the Carolina owner.
The new Washington owner sounds like one as well, but that situation remains to be seen.
Stephen Ross in Miami: meddler.

There are great owners throughout the league who don't get involved in the day-to-day coaching (Giants, Pitt, Baltimore, KC, San Fran) and they have a lot more success than the meddlers.

 

[XLIX]

Sure. You might know more about that time than I do . But i dont see a doc where jones is sitting down and ****ting on his HC after winning 3 SBs and then firing him or going pole to post talking the same thing.

You may not have seen it but Jones spent plenty of time ****ting on Johnson.

 

[Betterthanmost]

Kraft has turned into crazy old man rambling who doesn't know when to shut up.

Kraft likes to see himself as 1/3rd equal of the dynasty but nowhere else does that happen, all you hear out of KC is Mahomes/Reid then it would be Kelce, Spagnolo, Chris Jones as smaller pieces ect you never see Clark Hunt out pining for his 1/3rd share of credit.

The funny thing is that he says Bill had all the control yet he somehow wants to get equal credit for the dynasty. Which is which Krafty?
Did he also not say it was a mutual parting with BB? Now he says he fired BB? Which is it Krafty? He has my head in a spin.

 

[Pape]

For starters I don’t see coaches publicly fighting with staffers and going AWOL, coaches who were not allowed to bring their own staff aboard leading to him quitting and a HC that completely stops talking to his starting QB.

yeah, we only saw the "best lineman" we signed quit...

we only saw a head coach get passed over in the hiring cycle until we get stuck with the guys no one else wanted...

we saw every halfway decent free agent use our team to get more money elsewhere

still waiting on the "burning some cash" to happen... That there are tight controls on the budget of this team is a strong indicator that maybe just maybe the krafts were exercising a lot more control over the team that we previously thought.

we only saw a coach in week 5 say we are sticking with the plan, only to do an about face when it gets leaked on a tuesday that we are indeed changing quarterbacks...

and as for coaches bringing their own staff on board, how many guys bring in their own staffs? BoB brought in one of his guys to work with... why would he be able to dictate the terms of the entire offensive staff? and if he didnt agree, he could have stayed in alabama

and as for Mac - add after he was benched - so, yeah, got zero problems with him being doghoused... it was deserved...


and even if every single accusation leveled at Bill is true to the letter - He is still better than what we have now.

 

[upstater1]

What exactly are "checks and balances" for a GM? Someone has to be the final decision maker. You can't split a draft pick between 2 players. To some extent free agency is an either-or. It's unrealistic to think you'll get an organizational consensus on everything. Someone has to be the guy that makes the final call at the end of the day. You can't "check and balance" the final decision maker. Then he's not the final decision maker. Someone needs to wear that hat and be judged on the results. BB did a phenomenal job in the role for probably a little over a decade and a half. After that, it really started to slip. Coaching staff hires, draft picks, free agency, all of it seemed to fall off a cliff. Results were bad and it was justified to move on.

With the way teams manipulate the cap and the sheer growth of it, I think BB's ability to build adaptable teams got lost a bit. Teams don't make tough calls on the roster anymore, they just add void years and make it the next regime's problem to deal with the dead money. It's reduced the overall depth of free agency and minimized the need to deal with change, which was something BB did better than anyone else. I also think the schematics of the game have changed to where BB was no longer an innovator. He's smart enough to coach against it, but he wasn't an aggressor anymore either as a GM or a coach.

On your first paragraph, I agree. I've been trying to figure out what people mean by that. If he's the ultimate decider, then nothing has changed because he was always the decider anyway.

Maybe it means he occasionally throws a bone and says, "OK, I'll give in on this one, we'll go with JuJu over Jakobi even though I think it's not the right move." Maybe that's what was meant by Kraft's checks and balances.

As for the second paragraph, teams cycle. They lose talent. We lost 6 former Pro Bowlers on defense after they showed they were super slow and old in the playoffs in 2021.

That happens.

You can't stay on top forever in the NFL. I think that had more to do with it than any adaptability or inability to change.

If anything, this year is showing that Belichick was well ahead of the curve as his emphasis on having 3 or 4 safeties, 2 playing high, light DLs countered with strong running games, well that has now taken over the league, and Belichick was one of the first to zag that way when everyone zigged.

 

[TheRainMaker]

It really is quite evident too. He ran Parcells out of town, the back stairs were always open and in use during Pete's tenure, he basically told Bill he was going to get fired for choosing Brady over Drew if he wasn't right, we all know how that worked, and now it appears Kraft is right back to being dysfunctional. The only thing that will save us is Maye.

But at least he didn't move the team so he forever gets a pass for that.

I think Bill was facing a double edged sword in 2001. Bob wanted Bledsoe to play based on his recent contract and was going to fire Bill had they missed the playoffs no matter who played at QB. They go on to win the Super Bowl with Brady at QB who Bob didn't want. I'd be pretty resentful over Bob if I were Bill.

 

[TomPatriot]

Who cares now? Past is past. Building a better roster and developing Drake Maye is the proper focus.

 

[Steve102]

I wish Kraft would take the high road. I will have to watch this, but the whole thing to me is like picking a scab. Just leave it alone. I get that he didn't like Bill, he's mad that Bill was such a hard ass that Tommy left, but you don't win six fekkin' Super Bowls without the both of them. Just shut the fekk up, Bob.

EDIT: unless I'm watching Jules' Games with Names, I don't want anymore palace intrigue ****. Enough. Let's move forward, root for The Kid, ***** about Mayo and Wolfe.

 

[signbabybrady]

I think Bill was facing a double edged sword in 2001. Bob wanted Bledsoe to play based on his recent contract and was going to fire Bill had they missed the playoffs no matter who played at QB. They go on to win the Super Bowl with Brady as QB who Bob didn't want. I'd be pretty resentful over Bob if I were Bill.

I think we all knew Kraft was a jellyfish after he stopped supporting Brady during Deflategate

 

[Wax Frog]

Jesus **** Christ.

Hes won more Super Bowls than any coach and more games not named Shula.

Shut the *** up.

Hopefully he sticks an orchid in his ungracious gob first.

Kraft's behavior is why I'm getting that New England Browns vibe.

 

[ahmed]

Looks like we can put the “ Bill wasn’t in control “ argument to rest now.

It was always a dumb ass argument. For 20 years, all we heard was it was all Bill and then the minute things turned south, it was somehow not him that was at the wheel.

 

[neuronet]

I havent liked Kraft for a while now, but then he got personal this summer in his efforts to take tenure away from professors. So I hate him even more now. LOL.

wait wut?

 

[Clonamery]

Who cares now? Past is past. Building a better roster and developing Drake Maye is the proper focus.

Tell that to the owner.

 

[AQPE]

Kraft and a microphone have always been a bad combination, it's just worse now that he thinks of himself as a Hall of Fame owner just waiting for that ticket to be punched. Everything and I do mean everything Kraft does these days is with that objective in mind.

They had a great system of "checks and balances" when he was the only person in NFL history to think Bobby Grier was the best choice to run his franchise, and Grier allowed players to stampede up the stairway to undercut Pete Carroll. We saw two crap drafts in a row and big contracts handed to Bledsoe's buddies Todd Rucci and Max Lane. Pete went on to win 2 national championships and 1 Super Bowl (almost 2 as we well know) and Bobby went on to .... jack ****.

 

[signbabybrady]

Kraft likes to say he kept the 2 together.

Newsflash Bob: there was Dysfunction before Brady and Bill. There is Dysfunction after Brady and Bill. It did not exist when you didn't have checks and balances in place. Maybe that should tell you something about where its coming from.

 

[Sciz]

What exactly are "checks and balances" for a GM? Someone has to be the final decision maker. You can't split a draft pick between 2 players. To some extent free agency is an either-or. It's unrealistic to think you'll get an organizational consensus on everything. Someone has to be the guy that makes the final call at the end of the day. You can't "check and balance" the final decision maker. Then he's not the final decision maker. Someone needs to wear that hat and be judged on the results.

The secret is apparently to obfuscate who is actually making decisions, a setup that’s working for the Bills, 49ers, and Chiefs right now. Those three HCs hand-picked their GMs, and who is actually in charge is disputed at the very least. When it works it works, and when it doesn’t work everybody is getting fired anyway.