Robert Kraft hoped things would end differently.
He’d spent the final years of a dying dynasty patching together a fraying relationship between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, but in early 2020, it was all over. Separate conversations with his head coach and quarterback had kept the pair together long enough to win a sixth Super Bowl, a record-setting run. But both sides wanted a fresh start, so Kraft reluctantly watched Brady flee New England and win a Super Bowl in his first year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kraft had landed Belichick in 2000 following a one-day stint with the New York Jets.