I Believe Belichick & Kraft Will Part Ways Shortly After the Regular Season Ends & Here's Why...

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The relationship between owner and coach began in 2000 when, in Belichick's first year, the Patriots finished 5-11. The following year, after starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe was hurt, second-year quarterback Tom Brady took his snaps, and as they say, "The rest is NFL history."

As Brady aged, Belichick began looking for younger options. Belichick has always been a systems coach, believing the system made the player, not the other way around, and a lot of us bought into it…

In 2016, while Brady was serving a four game suspension, his replacement, Jimmy Garoppolo, took the field to open the season, and after playing well and winning his first two games, Belichick thought he'd found Brady's successor. When Garoppolo got hurt, Jacobi Brissett started the next two games and went 1-1.  

When Brady returned, in games he started, the Patriots were 11-1, and they finished the regular season 14-2. They went on to win the Super Bowl, beating the Atlanta Falcons in a stunning 34-28 come-from-behind win, Brady winning his fourth Super Bowl MVP.

Garoppolo was cocky, and Brady wasn't impressed. He didn't like that the Patriots drafted Garoppolo to be his replacement when he felt he wasn't close to retiring, and after letting it be known, Garoppolo was traded to the 49ers in October of 2017. It appeared that it wasn't Belichick's decision to trade Garoppolo, and rumors began swirling that there was friction between Brady and Belichick and Belichick and Kraft…

The Patriots were in the next two Super Bowls, winning in 2018, but the relationship between coach and quarterback continued its decline. 

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In 2019, at age 42, Brady moved on, signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Rob Gronkowski came out of retirement to join him. Brady won his 7th Super Bowl that year, and his fifth Super Bowl MVP, and that had to be unsettling for Kraft. 

Meanwhile, Belichick's Patriots were starting their decline. First under Cam Newton (7-9), and then they continued to decline with first-round pick Mac Jones under center, with one competitive year, 2021, where in Mac Jones' rookie year, they were 10-7, but were eliminated in the Wild Card. 

Recently, things have gotten so bad in New England, that the NFL flexed them out of a Monday night game with the Chiefs, moving them back to a 1:00 time slot on Sunday, a move that Kraft had to find humiliating.

Robert Kraft was a Patriots fan first, then after he bought the team, he turned the organization into a dynasty, on and off the field. Between making great hires and winning, building Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place, and making hefty charitable donations to organizations like the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, he became a well-respected owner in the NFL. Over the past four years, post-Brady, his shine has been heavily tarnished. Recently, Kraft fell short in his quest for Hall of Fame induction, an honor many people believe he has more than earned. 

At this point in his life, at age 82, Kraft's legacy has to be very important to him, and he certainly would like to go out on top. But over the past two seasons, the Patriots are 12-21 with one game remaining against the Jets.

Belichick, the GM, has made some personnel moves that haven't exactly panned out. Last offseason, he moved players like WR Jacoby Meyers (68 receptions for Las Vegas), TE Jonnu Smith (47 receptions for Atlanta), and kicker Nick Foles (29-30 in field goals for Tennessee). Their replacements, Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster (29 receptions), Mike Gesiki (28 receptions), and Chad Ryland (15-24 in field goals), have been big disappointments, as have many others Belichick brought in.

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Throw in that Belichick's coaching methods are old school and that he doesn't always relate well to younger players, and as a result, New England has become a less-than-desirable place for them to land either in the draft or free agency. 

Belichick, the coach, has already lost 12 games this season, the first time he's lost that many as Patriot's head coach, and his last-place finish in the AFC East is the first time that's happened since 2000.

Belichick has always said roster decisions are based on what is, "best for our football team." Robert Kraft, not too unlike Belichick, also believes that his personnel moves reflect what he feels is best for the future of his franchise, and based on that, he will move on from 71-year-old Bill Belichick shortly after the regular season ends…