If you thought the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting committee’s decision not to elect Bill Belichick for induction this year was egregious, Colin Cowherd believes you should be just as outraged that Robert Kraft was also snubbed of the honor.
Cowherd strongly defended Kraft’s Hall of Fame credentials on Tuesday’s “The Herd” after news broke that the New England Patriots owner won’t be inducted as part of the Class of 2026. In fact, he made a bold prediction about the Patriots and took a shot at Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as he explained why Kraft should be a Hall of Famer.
“If you had to ask me today who the next dynasty in the NFL will be, if I had to put my 401K on it, I would bet Drake Maye, Mike Vrabel, Robert Kraft and Josh McDaniels. This was a terrible organization before Kraft. They were the New Orleans ‘Aints — the Saints. They were terrible. They were cheap. Nobody wanted to play for them. Nobody wanted to scout for them. They won 10 games the next year. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I don’t think that’s luck. So, if you want to be outraged that Belichick didn’t get in, you might want to be a little bothered that Jerry Jones is in, and Robert Kraft isn’t.”
Kraft, who has been eligible to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for over a decade, was denied the possibility of getting his bust in Canton this summer despite having more Super Bowl wins (six) than any owner in NFL history. The Patriots have also made 11 Super Bowls since Kraft bought the team in 1994, with all those appearances coming after the Cowboys’ most recent Super Bowl win in the 1995 season. Even though Jones has half the Super Bowl wins as Kraft, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
Robert Kraft not voted into Hall of Fame, What does this say about the Patriots?
Beyond the head-to-head comparison with Jones, Cowherd believes that the Patriots’ sudden rise as one of the NFL’s premier franchises is a testament to Kraft and his Hall of Fame worthiness.
“‘Colin, c’mon. Owners don’t matter!’ Oh, really? Titans, Jets, Browns — perpetually hazmats. Dan Snyder took over a Washington football team that had a 30-year season ticket waiting list. Twenty-four years, Washington was a trainwreck. The NFL kicks him out. The next year, Washington was in the NFC Championship. I bet that’s just a nutty coincidence,” Cowherd said. “New England was awful before Robert Kraft got there. Five straight years of losing seasons. In fact, in that half-decade, they had the worst record in the league. Robert Kraft buys them. The next year, they’re 10-6. What are the chances? Pre-Belichick, with Belichick, post-Belichick — [Kraft has made the] Supertazón
“Existe una relación directa entre la calidad de la propiedad y la calidad de las decisiones administrativas que toma la gente”, dijo Robert Kraft, 11 veces campeón del Super Bowl desde que compró el equipo. Eso es más que el resto de la AFC Este, AFC Norte y AFC Sur juntas”.
Cowherd también hizo referencias cruzadas entre deportes para mostrar la importancia de los propietarios.
“Mire un partido de béisbol. Los Yankees tienen tantos ingresos anuales como los Dodgers. Pero los Dodgers tienen mejores dueños”, dijo Cowherd. “La excelencia en cada empresa para la que he trabajado comienza desde arriba y se refuerza continuamente todos los días. De arriba a abajo, no comienza desde abajo. Mire a Nueva York. George Steinbrenner fue dueño de los Yankees durante 37 años y ganó siete campeonatos de Serie Mundial”. No es el gerente. Ha tenido 23 managers diferentes, si cuentas las múltiples contrataciones de Billy Martin, ha tenido múltiples gerentes generales, ha tenido múltiples jugadores en la plantilla. La única similitud en la línea de trabajo es George Steinbrenner”.
Tom Brady sobre que Robert Kraft no llegue al Salón de la Fama
Kraft no ha experimentado muchos cambios importantes de rol durante su tiempo como propietario de los Patriots, con Tom Brady y Belichick siendo el entrenador de mariscales de campo del equipo durante casi 20 años, pero ahora Kraft ha llegado al Super Bowl con una combinación de tres entrenadores de mariscales de campo distintos. Drew Bledsoe y Bill Parcells ayudaron a Nueva Inglaterra a llegar al Super Bowl en 1996, mientras que Maye y Vrabel llevaron a los Patriots de regreso al Super Bowl en el primer año de su asociación.
Kraft, sin embargo, ha seguido siendo una de las tres décadas más impresionantes de New England, y Cowherd cree que el dueño de los Patriots debería ser honrado por eso.
“Para ser una familia real, puedes tener suerte y ganar el Super Bowl de vez en cuando. Y todo saldrá bien. Y tienes una buena plantilla”, dijo Cowherd. “Pero para ser una familia real hay que tener un gran propietario, un gran gerente general, un gran entrenador. Y un gran defensor, hay que tener al menos una A-menos en todos ellos”.
