In a candid admission, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has acknowledged a significant error in judgment regarding Tom Brady. Kraft admitted that allowing Brady to depart in 2020 was a massive mistake for the team.
After the 2019 season, the Patriots had the option to retain Brady, but they opted to let the quarterback explore free agency. Bill Belichick’s perception that Brady was losing his edge played a pivotal role in the decision. Subsequently, Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and clinched a Super Bowl victory in his inaugural season with the team.
Meanwhile, the Patriots experienced a dismal stretch in the four seasons following Brady’s departure, posting a 29-38 record. The nadir came in 2023 with a 4-13 record, leading to Belichick’s departure.
During the Patriots’ season opener in September, Kraft reportedly had a conversation with Tom Brady Sr., where he openly admitted the team’s misjudgment in letting Brady go.
“He just said, ‘I made a mistake.’ He told us that back in September,” shared Brady Sr. in a recent interview with the Boston Globe. “We don’t all make the right decisions, but he’s made a hell of a lot of good ones over the years. But I know that it galls him that Tommy went elsewhere and won. Not that he won, but that he won after Bill (Belichick) said he was done.”
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The decision to part ways with Brady appears to be solely attributed to Belichick. According to an ESPN report from mid-January, Kraft expressed frustration after witnessing Brady secure a Lombardi Trophy with another team.
“Bill had told me he couldn’t play anymore, and then he goes out and wins the f—ing Super Bowl,” Kraft reportedly remarked in February 2021.
While Kraft has largely kept his sentiments about Brady’s departure private, the team’s acknowledgment and honoring of Brady during Week 1 suggested that the Patriots owner felt compelled to admit the wrong decision to Brady’s father. Kraft, who has overseen six Super Bowl victories for the Patriots, now realizes that this tally might have been higher had they retained Brady.
