Patriots owner Robert Kraft sabotaged Bill Belichicks' chances to coach the Falcons

There was a time when the New England Patriots were the undisputed team to beat in the National Football League. Bill Belichick had plenty to do with that, coaching them to six Super Bowl wins.

Belichick’s reputation for being a cold guy and running a military-style system preceded him. Then again, it’s hard to complain when you spend almost two decades at the mountaintop.

However, with Belichick infamously running Tom Brady out of town and creating a bit of a mess inside the organization, it didn’t take long before his relationship with team owner Robert Kraft fell off.

Robert Kraft Told The Falcons Not To Trust Bill Belichick

Now, a report by Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN shows that Kraft’s grudge toward his former coach was so big that he even sabotaged him and prevented him from getting a new job.

Apparently, he reached out to Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank to warn him about Belichick’s character, and that was a deal-breaker in their interest in his services:

“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,” read the report.

Belichick reportedly told the Falcons that he didn’t want to be in control of all decisions. He was willing to play ball and be a team worker, which was one of the things that scared most things away from even approaching him.

Kraft told Blank that he would never have a close relationship with an arrogant man like Belichick. They went with Raheem Morris instead, and Belichick might not even get another chance to coach in the league.

One could argue that he laid his own bed with the way he handled himself. Then again, it’s still crazy to see all doors shutting right on arguably the greatest coach in NFL history’s face.