During Sunday night’s two-hours-too-long Tom Brady roast, host Kevin Hart brokered an apparently unscripted meeting between Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Kraft praised Belichick and Brady and then the two men drank shots.
Before the roast, the vibe was apparently different.
Drew Bledoe (not Brady) appeared on Julian Edelman’s podcast and set the scene when Kraft arrived in the green room. Here’s what they said.
“Pre-show, we’re in the green room,” Edelman said. “Randy, Drew, me, Gronk, we were just chilling in there. Bill was opening up, he’s having fun, he’s talking war stories, talking rookies. Doing shit we know what Bill’s about about but it was like amplified, because he’s excited to see guys because he doesn’t have a job anymore.”
“Then Kraft walks in,” Bledsoe said.
“The tension in that room . . . could cut fucking glass,” Edelman said. “That was so awkward.”
Bledsoe added that the players in the green room went over to greet Kraft, while Belichick was in the middle of telling a story.
“I just walked away,” Edelman said. “I didn’t want to be in there.”
They found a way to play nice when Belichick’s exit was announced. Then, last month, ESPN.com reported that Kraft told Falcons owner Arthur Blank he couldn’t trust Belichick. And Belichick got no offers for 2023.
Reality TV is never real. The truth only comes out when the cameras and microphones aren’t around. And it sure sounds like something closer to the true state of affairs between Belichick and Kraft came to light in the green room before the Brady roast.