Tom Brady calls Robert Kraft's Hall of Fame case a "no-brainer"
BOSTON -- Robert Kraft is once again a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A committee will meet later this month to debate whether the Patriots' owner will be selected from a group of 12 semifinalists to be presented for final consideration for the Hall of Fame.
Tom Brady believes the case for Kraft is a no-brainer.
The retired quarterback stepped aside from an African safari to speak with MassLive's Karen Guregian about his former boss' candidacy for induction into the Hall of Fame, and he unsurprisingly went to bat for the man with whom he spent the first 20 years of his career.
"In my mind, this is a no-brainer. I want this bad for him because he deserves it," Brady said of Kraft.
Brady cited Kraft's contributions to both the Patriots and the league, pointing out how instrumental Kraft was in bridging the gap between the owners and the players to avoid games being missed during the 2011 lockout. A budding businessman himself, Brady pointed out the lucrative TV deals that Kraft helped negotiate as chair of the NFL's broadcast committee, too.
"The growth of the game now is totally different than when I first started based on media rights and how the games are broadcast, where they're being broadcast, the partners they've chosen," Brady told Guregian. "And RKK has been one of the instrumental forces in the league to be able to do that."
With regard to the local football team, Kraft has been the most successful owner in the league since he purchased the Patriots in 1994. The team has won six Super Bowls and 10 AFC championships during his tenure, establishing Foxboro as the epicenter of the football universe for the 20th century.
Brady credited Kraft for having the conviction to give up a first-round pick in order to hire Bill Belichick in 2000, and he praised the owner for being completely hands-on with every element of the operation.
"In my mind, he does the job. He doesn't pass the job off to someone else. He takes the job very seriously and does a great job managing the whole organization," Brady said of Kraft. "He rewards people for success and sets a great culture for an organization. For me, great teams and great organizations start at the top."
The case for Kraft is pretty strong on its own. But having someone like Brady so passionately in his corner certainly can't hurt.
