- Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed his thoughts on Tom Brady winning Super Bowl LV.
- Kraft won six Super Bowls with Brady as his team's quarterback.
- Brady left the Patriots last offseason due to reported conflicts with the front office.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed his thoughts on Tom Brady's recent Super Bowl victory with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kraft told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated that he believes Brady deserved the victory.
"Well, I was really happy for him," Kraft told Breer. "He's a great guy, and he gave us 20 wonderful years, and he made the choice to do what he wanted to do. Look, I wasn't that happy to see him leave, but we gave him that opportunity to do it. And I want to say if we're not going to win, and someone's got to do it, I'm happy for him. He deserves it."
Still, Kraft was adamant about his disappointment in Brady's decision to leave the Patriots last offseason.
Brady spent his first 20 NFL seasons with the Patriots, winning six Super Bowls during that span. Brady's efforts helped the Patriots tie the Pittsburgh Steelers for most Super Bowl victories by a single organization.
But when Brady's contract expired after the 2019 season, he did not re-sign with New England. Instead he moved to Tampa to sign a fully-guaranteed, two-year $50 million contract at the age of 42.
Brady's decision not to return to the Patriots was reportedly due to disagreements over his salary and other roster decisions by the front office, according to Seth Wickersham of ESPN. Kraft ultimately sided with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick during the dissagreements, while Brady found the salary and roster influence he was seeking with the Buccaneers.
Brady signed a one-year contract extension with the Buccaneers on March 12, which will keep him in Tampa Bay through the 2022 season, when he will be 45 years old. Brady has previously stated that he wants to play until he's at least 45 years old.
Brady's Buccaneers are currently tied with the second-best odds to win Super Bowl LVI, according to Draft Kings Sportsbook at +900. The Kansas City Chiefs are the odds-on favorite at +550 while the Green Bay Packers come in tied with Tampa Bay. Brady bested both of those teams in the postseason.
Meanwhile, New England is coming off a 7-9 campaign in its first season without Brady, the organization's first losing season since 2000. Kraft and Belichick responded by dishing out over $160 million in guaranteed money in free agency, as they are gearing up to get the Patriots back to the Super Bowl themselves.
"It's like investing in the stock market," Kraft told Peter King of NBC Sports. "You take advantage of corrections and inefficiencies in the market when you can, and that's what we did here. We'll see. Nothing is guaranteed, and I'm very cognizant of that. But we're not in the business to be in business. We're in this business to win."