When tasked with making the toughest of tough decisions over his Super successful years in both business and football, Robert Kraft has leaned heavily on a single guiding quote.
Publicly and privately Kraft has often shared this simple but effective management and leadership philosophy, one that is very likely currently at the center of his decision making process when it comes to the future of Bill Belichick running the football show in Foxborough.
“I have a way of looking at problems that are very strong in my mind. Before I make a final decision, I measure nine times and I cut once,” Kraft said in May of 2015 when announcing his decision not to appeal the NFL’s Deflategate punishments against his team.
Measure nine times and cut once. Because once you make the cut, once you make certain decisions there’s no going back from it. Right or wrong. Success or failure. Some decisions are final and irreversible.
So it was that Kraft mulled over his Deflategate appeal decision back in 2015, before landing on what he felt was in the best interests of his football team and the entire NFL even if it divided Patriot Nation. “I think maybe if I had made the decision last week it would be different than it is today.”
The first measurement isn’t always the same as the second. Or the third. Or certainly the critical ninth measurement in Kraft’s decision making mindset.
Clearly, Kraft has a massive decision to make in the coming weeks as it once again pertains to his football team, one that’s bigger than million dollar football-deflating fines, draft pick punishments or even organizational reputations. A decision that will once again divide opinions in his fan base and in the world of football as a whole.
Kraft must decide if Belichick, who’s found unprecedented success in his nearly quarter century of leadership in New England, is still the man to run what some must be reminded is indeed still Kraft's football team.
Kraft must weigh six Super Bowl rings and, as Belichick would describe it, “the last 25 years” versus the most recent four-plus years of organizational regression. Past success compared to future expectations for a 71-year-old head coach who has had three losing seasons in four years, including bottoming out this fall to the tune of a 3-11 mark littered with embarrassing losses from Dallas to Frankfurt and everywhere in between.
Measure nine times and cut once.
So, yes, it is possible that Kraft believed and expressed in wake of the ugly 10-6 loss to the Colts in Germany that it was time to move on from Belichick. That a change would do his team and his organization good.
At the time it was a measured reaction at what Kraft saw as a critical moment in time. But not the final measurement.
And as much water has flowed under the Patriots bridge, both this year, in recent years and over two-decades, it’s also possible that Kraft hasn’t landed on his final decision yet. That it could change or even has changed. Because he hasn’t had to make the final call and measurement yet.
When the final whistle blows on New England’s 2023 season after a season-ending battle with the rival Jets, Kraft will indeed need to get out of his tape measure. Then, and only then, will Kraft need to make a measured decision about Belichick’s future which in turn coincides with the future of the Patriots team of which he’s been the face and football mastermind since 2000.
Kraft has made these types of decisions many times over the years. As he did during Deflategate. As he did when he chose to allow Belichick to move on from Tom Brady. As he’s done building one of the most impressive business and football empires in the world.
This decision is both no different and oh so different. It would bring to a conclusive end the days of the dynasty. Sure it could allow Belichick to move on and win elsewhere, as Brady did. To collect an NFL wins record wearing another logo. And leave the Patriots with the difficult task of finding a new coach and football boss as the team tries to pull out of the current Belichick-led tailspin.
These are tough times for Kraft. Tough decisions have to be made.
One thing is certain, when Kraft makes his final decision on Belichick’s future and the future of football line Foxborough, it will be a measured decision.
Measure nine times and cut once.
It’s a mentality that has worked for Kraft far more often than not in the past.
A mindset he’s likely counting on to serve him well once again, whether others like his final decision or not.
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