In recent years, there has been a perception that New England Patriots team owner Robert Kraft was not willing to spend the cash necessary to assemble a championship roster. But not only does Kraft insist that’s not true, but it sounds like he’s now throwing former head coach Bill Belichick under the bus a little bit.
During a recent interview session with a group of reporters, Robert Kraft indicated that he has been willing to spend money, but all of those decisions have come down to Bill Belichick and not him.
“I know there’s a perception that we have held back on spending,” Kraft said according to Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston. “Let me just say, for our fans, that’s just not true. Look, we were blessed to have a coach in our system who was a great coach and also understood value. He ran a tight ship. . . . [O]ur coaches have always had the ability to spend at whatever level they wanted. I think Bill [Belichick] was always thinking about the future and really understood value. But we never held back with any of the coaches we’ve had over the last 30 years.”
Kraft even said that he has personally tried to sign players who “maybe would’ve cost more,” but implied that Belichick was not willing to do that.
“I can assure our fans that spending will never be held back or the reason that we don’t sign players,” Kraft added. “I’ve actually tried to get us to sign players who maybe would’ve cost more but wouldn’t have been the right players or value. So, we always leave that to the people we assign the responsibility to.”
Kraft insists that the money was always there for Belichick to spend however he saw fit. And if Kraft couldn’t afford to spend money to improve the team, he would simply sell the team.
“They’ve been able to get whatever they want,” Kraft said. “If cash spending became an issue for our family, and we couldn’t do it, then I would sell the team. Winning football games, after my family, is the most important thing in my life. Whatever we can do to help make that happen, we’re going to do.”
All in all, it’s a pretty brutal message to Belichick, pointing to him for all of the team’s reluctance to spend money.
