New England Patriots: Bob Kraft, the 2021 offseason, and future of team
Bad decisions by the New England Patriots over the past 2 years including by owner Robert Kraft have seemingly led to a major refocus of the team’s strategy.
They also have cost him a winner and a huge chunk of change to boot.
Mr. Kraft was used to sitting in his plush owner’s box at Gillette Stadium and enjoying watching Tom Brady carve up any and all NFL opponents like a juicy Thanksgiving turkey late in November.
But in 2020, he was served with a cold, week-old chicken salad on stale bread as his team went to Hull in a Handbasket for the first time in over a decade failing to make the playoffs.
Mr. Kraft is clearly not happy with the loss of the greatest player in the history of the NFL due to suspected poor personal relations between said player and coach, Bill Belichick.
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Yet, Kraft himself also has to bear a major share of the blame as he allowed that terrible personal interrelationship to fester to the point of divorce.
It deteriorated to the point that the franchise’s and the NFL’s all-time best player for 20 years took a powder, and the New England Patriots, in essence, let him do just that.
How is that?
The Patriots signed a contract with Tom Brady in 2019 that did not contain a franchise option on the player for the club after that season.
Some looked at this as a positive development. Others, not so much. The others were spot on.
In essence, the marriage that had been such a tremendous success was frankly over right then and there. Game, set, match. Patriots career over for Tom Brady.
They’d have one more dissatisfying year together and that would be that. And, yes, it was that foolhardy agreement agreed to by the New England Patriots that allowed that to transpire.