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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly tried to "warn" Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank "not to trust" six-time Super Bowl champion head coach Bill Belichick when he was being considered for the Falcons' vacancy this offseason, ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Jeremy Fowler reported in a detailed piece published on Wednesday (April 17).
Belichick, 72, was reported to have interviewed for the Falcons' job -- which was eventually given to Raheem Morris -- multiple times after parting ways with the Patriots after 24 seasons in January.
Per ESPN:
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 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.
Multiple sources said that Kraft spoke with "some candor" to Blank about Belichick, though the sources declined to elaborate. One source close to Belichick said Kraft "was a big part" of why the Falcons passed on hiring him.
A source reported to be close to Kraft told ESPN that the Patriots owner "found Bill to be extremely difficult and obstinate and kind of stubborn and, in the end, not worthy of his trust," as well as "very, very, very arrogant," though a spokesperson for Kraft denied the disparaging remarks. Belichick reportedly had zero knowledge of Kraft's phone call with Blank and expected to be hired for the Falcons' head coaching job before the team revealed its decision to hire Morris on January 25.
Kraft was recently criticized for how the Patriots Netflix docuseries 'The Dynasty,' which was produced by his company, was perceived to have negatively portrayed Belichick, the third-winningest coach in NFL history. Belichick is one of seven NFL head coaches to have spent more than 20 years with one franchise following George Halas (40) of the Chicago Bears, Curly Lambeau (29) of the Green Bay Packers, Tom Landry (29) of the Dallas Cowboys, Don Shula (26) of the Miami Dolphins, Steven Owen (24) of the New York Giants and Chuck Noll of the Pittsburgh Steelers, all of whom have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.