BOSTON — As he talked about his great times being a professional athlete in Massachusetts, Vince Wilfork made it a point to thank both Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick.
It’s common among the team’s alumni. Most of the New England players who were part of the Patriots’ amazing 20-year run fondly remember Kraft as the kindly paternal figure leading the franchise and Belichick as the mastermind who got the most out of them.
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That makes not-so-subtle difficult to watch for many former Patriots.
Including Wilfork.
As he met with the media before The Tradition, the annual gala that raises money for The Sports Museum and honors great New England athletes, Wilfork said he thinks the two men will eventually mend fences.
“They’re going to have no choice down the road. We’ve accomplished so much in two decades for it to be what it is. Whatever their beef it is, it’ll get squashed because what they did was amazing,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll ever see that again. Two decades of a coach that won the way he won and an owner like Mr. Kraft, with as much as he does in the community and in the NFL. You want to celebrate stuff like that."
After those two decades and six Super Bowl championships together, the Patriots struggled. They missed the playoffs three out of four years after Tom Brady left. Kraft and Belichick initially said their parting was mutual after the 2023 season. Belichick’s sons even remained on Jerod Mayo’s staff.
But Kraft eventually admitted that he’d fired Belichick. Whatever animosity existed between the two men came to the surface after that. From his new job at the University of North Carolina, Belichick has taken subtle and not-so-subtle shots at Kraft ever since.
Wilfork hoped time would eventually diffuse the tension and allow the two men to celebrate what they accomplished together and not what drove them apart.
“Sometimes it takes time for things to heal. That’s one of those moments where we’re going to have to let time pass and let it heal,” Wilfork said. “They did amazing things. They’re both stamped in the NFL. So why rob that from the city? I think it’ll get to the point where they can just squash it and move forward and celebrate it how we should. Until then, I’ll be waiting. Hopefully it’ll get squashed.”
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