Rubenstein asked Kraft about Bill Belicick’s job status. As head coach and de facto general manager, Belichick plays a significant role in assembling and coaching the roster.
The Patriots are 1-5 for the first time since 1995, which was Kraft’s second year owning the team. The team’s performance has prompted questions about whether Belichick should continue on as Patriots coach.
“I’ll let you ask him, he has to decide what’s right for him,” Kraft said.
Kraft also spoke about what went in to the decision to let Tom Brady leave.
“I always would talk to him, and he would take less money to play for the Patriots, and you know we have a salary cap,” Kraft said. “So, I always assured him that whatever money I didn’t pay him wasn’t going into my pocket, it was going to other players who would be around him, and if we won those kind of trophies, he would be the biggest beneficiary for the rest of his life which in fact has happened.”
“You know, if the Patriots can’t win a Super Bowl, I’m always rooting for Tom Brady,” Kraft continued. “After being with him for 20 years, we could have franchised him or done other things. I said to him when he did his last contract two years before that at year 20, he would decide whether he would stay with us or not. I think he earned that right, and for his own personal reasons he felt it was best to move on.”
