07-27-2021, 11:28 AM
(07-27-2021, 10:10 AM)Sled21 Wrote: I wouldn't hold out Robert Kraft as some Savant when it comes to putting a football team together. His team happened to hit on the greatest QB to ever play the game in the 6th round. That's pure luck. And not only is Brady the GOAT, he is also seemingly beating Father Time, which adds to the luck. While NE may have had good teams during the Brady years without Brady, it is obvious they would not have been anywhere near the dynasty the were without him. He solved the Chicken/Egg (Brady/Belicheat) riddle when he took his Super Bowl winning ability to Tampa Bay and played the season, playoffs, and won the season with a fully torn MCL.
I mean, he doesn't exactly put a football team together though. He pays others to do that, just like almost every other single owner in the league.
You can say drafting Brady was pure luck but I don't think that negates everything his franchise has accomplished. He managed to keep him there for 20 years after "lucking" into drafting him. He kept him happy enough to want to stay all of those years. And they were smart enough to hold on to him when a lot of other teams would have handed the reigns to the younger Jimmy Garoppolo then stick with a 39 year old Tom Brady.
A few things things to consider...
1.) He bought the Patriots in 1994, well before Tom Brady or Bill Bilichick. They were coming off 5 straight losing seasons. They went 10-6 in his first year and went to playoffs for the first time in almost a decade.
2.) They went to the Superbowl in his 3rd year of ownership, without Belichick or Brady.
3.) His teams only had 1 losing season in the 6 years prior to Belichick arriving. They posted win totals of: 10, 6, 11, 10, 9, and 8.
4.) He's had 3 coaches in his 25 years of ownership: Bill Parcells, Pete Carroll, and Bill Belichick. I'm not sure you'll find an owner with a better 3 hires. Those are all HOF coaches.
5.) They went 11-5 with Matt Cassell in 2008 with Tom Brady missing 15.5 games.
6.) Players have routinely taken less money to play there. You can say that's because of wanting to win, and that may be true. But that doesn't happen without also providing an environment that players seek out. Part of that can be attributed to ownership and what they've created. (Ammentities, facilities, perks, relationships, hirearchy, etc.)
I'm not pointing any of this out to say this proves he's the greatest owner of all time. That's kind of an impossible claim to prove. But I do think it's completely reasonable to say that he's done an absolutely fantastic job. You cannot deny what he's turned that franchised into, or ignore the turnaround they've seen from what he inherited. What's been built there during his reign is nothing short of remarkable. And I don't think it's any coincidence either. The man spares absolutely no expense, manages to tow the line between being involved and getting out of the way, and the coaching and front office hires have been simply outstanding.
To simply sum up the entirity of Robert Kraft as lucking into Tom Brady seems incredibly unfair to me. Whether you call him a great owner, or a good owner, you have to admit he's been the most successful. And what else should a business owner be defined for if not for success? He's clearly done a whole lot of things right. You don't get the results they've seen without excellence from the top all the way down.
