Peter King tells Colin Cowherd why the Patriots almost never hired Bill Belichick
Robert Kraft's decision to hire Bill Belichick as head coach of the New England Patriots will go down as one of the most important moments in NFL history — and it almost never happened.
On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated MMQB columnist Peter King joined Colin Cowherd on The Herd live in Houston to detail how then-Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell, who employed Belichick as Cleveland Browns coach from 1991 to 1995, told Kraft to stay far, far away from the former Patriots assistant.
COWHERD: You wrote on MMQB this week that when Robert Kraft got his NFL team — and I remember when it was owned by the Gillette family — Art Modell gave Robert Kraft some advice on owning an NFL team. What was that advice?
KING: Well, he told him in the year 2000, he sent him tapes of Bill Belichick in his press conferences. And Kraft watched them, and he goes, "Oh my God," because Kraft wanted to hire Belichick as his head coach. But Art Modell told him at the time, it'll be the biggest mistake of your life if you hire him.
Because, look, he didn't win in Cleveland. He only had one winning season out of five, and I think the world thought that Bill Belichick should be a defensive coordinator, which was not unreasonable at the time. But Kraft had a thing about having had Belichick on the Patriots staff with Parcells for one year. And he said he was just really impressed with him, and he thought one day that if I do get an opportunity, I'm going to try to move heaven and earth to try to hire him.
And honestly, Colin, it turns out to be one of the best decisions in NFL history by an owner.
King also reveals that despite all of his connections in the league, he has no relationship with Belichick. In fact, according to King, the two haven't had a conversation since 2007.
For more on the Patriots, check out Skip Bayless detailing why Julian Edelman is more valuable to his team than Julio Jones is to the Falcons and Cris Carter explaining why the Patriots are the most-hated team in the NFL:
