New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick thought he had the Atlanta Falcons head coaching job in the bag, along with the rest of the outside world.
All of the signs pointed towards Falcons owner Arthur Blank green lighting a team-up with the man responsible for helping hand his team their most embarrassing loss in franchise history at Super Bowl LI. But then out of nowhere, it was announced that former Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris would be taking over as the Falcons’ new head coach.
And just like that, the Belichick chatter was over, and people were left scratching their heads at why the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach couldn’t land the job.
ESPN reported a phone conversation during the interview process between Blank and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Blank spoke with Kraft in an effort to check Belichick’s references and get a feel for how the owner who knew him better than anyone experienced him behind the scenes.
A bombshell article published on Wednesday, via Seth Wickersham, Don Van Natta Jr. and Jeremy Fowler said:
But in a conversation with Blank, 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 spokesperson for Kraft denied there was anything disparaging said about Belichick in the two phone conversations with Blank in January. However, there was the possibility he might have been critical of Belichick before those specific conversations.
If true, it’s a messy situation that doesn’t necessarily paint the Patriots’ owner in the best light.