New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly called Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and warned him to not trust former Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
The January call, reported by ESPN on Wednesday, played a major role in why the Falcons decided not to hire Belichick and instead opted to hire Raheem Morris.
Blank and Belichick met just a few days after Belichick was let go by the Patriots after coaching there for nearly a quarter century.
The job interview, which happened on Blank’s Yacht in the Caribbean, left Blank very impressed, the report said.
Blank’s view of Belichick changed after Blank decided to call Kraft, who is considered to be his closest friend among NFL owners.
“Kraft delivered a stark assessment of Belichick’s character, according to a source who spoke to two people: a close Kraft friend and a longtime Belichick confidant,” the report said. “The source quoted the Belichick source as saying, ‘Robert called Arthur to warn him not to trust Bill.’ That account was backed up, the source said, by the close Kraft friend.”
“One source close to Belichick said Kraft ‘was a big part’ of why the Falcons passed on hiring him,” the report added. “The sources said Kraft made clear to Blank that ‘you’ll never have a warm conversation with’ Belichick, echoing what Bill Parcells told Kraft in 1996 when he wanted to bust the budget and hire Belichick. ‘Blank likes coaches who feel part of a family,’ a Falcons source said, ‘and it wasn’t going to be that way with Bill.'”
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Kraft had been unhappy with Belichick, who won six Super Bowls with the team, for months and did not trust him because he believed that Belichick was responsible for leaking stories.
“[Kraft] found Bill to be extremely difficult and obstinate and kind of stubborn and, in the end, not worthy of his trust,” a source told ESPN. “And also very, very, very arrogant.”
The source said that the Kraft family felt “betrayed” by Belichick, but did not think that Kraft would try to harm the coach.
“I don’t think they’d try to help him either,” the source added. “They weren’t going to try to sink him. He was finished as an effective head coach. Just look at his last four years in New England. A disaster. … If you’re Arthur Blank, why do you want the headaches?”