Adam Vinatieri says he and Robert Kraft recently cleared the air over Patriots departure
Vinatieri left the Patriots for the Colts as a free agent in 2006 at the height of the New England-Indianapolis rivalry.
Adam Vinatieri was named a finalist for induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame on Thursday, getting the honor in his first year of eligibility. But that might have been a surprise to some, considering how he departed the team during his playing career.
The former Patriots kicker unceremoniously left for the Colts as a free agent in 2006, joining Indianapolis at the height of New England’s rivalry with the team. Vinatieri had sought to join the Colts at the start of free agency that year, telling his agent to “not screw around” with Indianapolis, according to ESPN’s Mike Wells.
Nineteen years later, Vinatieri believes the way he left the Patriots is water under the bridge. Vinatieri told ESPN’s Mike Reiss that he wasn’t seeking to leave New England at the time, recently relaying that message to Patriots owner Robert Kraft as well.
“Mr. [Robert] Kraft and I had a wonderful conversation last year when I came back [for a game] and cleared the [air] on how it all happened,” Vinatieri told Reiss. “He thought that I just wanted to find a new place. That was absolutely not the situation. I had 10 years with New England and was never a free agent. After the 10th year, when I became a free agent, I didn’t want to leave.”
After kicking a few of the most iconic kicks in NFL history to help the Patriots win three Super Bowl titles, Vinatieri was franchise-tagged by the team in 2005 before becoming a free agent in 2006. When the Patriots didn’t franchise tag him that offseason, Vinatieri understandably became a sought-after free agent, with the Packers and Cowboys joining the Patriots and Colts among the teams vying for his services.
Vinatieri wound up signing a multi-year deal with the Colts that was worth $2.5 million on an average annual basis to go along with a $3.5 million signing bonus. Had the Patriots franchise tagged him that offseason, Vinatieri would’ve received a contract worth over $3 million for the 2006 season.
Vinatieri expressed to Reiss that his decision to leave New England was more about compensation than anything else, even after he was booed in multiple return trips to Gillette Stadium over the years.
“I just wanted a fair deal,” Vinatieri said. “Negotiations took a different way, and that’s different people’s philosophies on how they manage the team, or whatever … but I loved all my time there. To the day I die, there’s a huge spot in my heart for the organization and the people in New England. No hard feelings at all, for sure.”
Bill Belichick, of course, was the Patriots’ chief decision-maker at the time that Vinatieri left the team. The former Patriots head coach never addressed what went down in Vinatieri’s departure from the team, but he praised his former kicker following his retirement announcement in 2021.
“Adam Vinatieri is the greatest kicker of all-time who made the greatest kick of all-time in the 2001 divisional playoffs,” Belichick said in a statement at the time. “His consistency, mental toughness and performance under pressure was legendary. I am honored to have coached Adam, going all the way back to his rookie year in 1996 and through some of the most special moments in Patriots and league history. Adam is in the rarest echelon of athletes whose career accomplishments may never be matched.”
Kraft also spoke glowingly of Vinatieri in his statement when the kicker announced his retirement in 2021. He praised Vinatieri for the kicks that won the Patriots Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVIII along with the 45-yard field goal in the snow that helped send the infamous “Tuck Rule Game” to overtime.
“He retires as the NFL’s all-time leading scorer and I am certain will soon be celebrated as a Patriots and Pro Football Hall of Famer,” Kraft wrote at the time.
Now, Patriots fans have the opportunity to fulfill the former part of that statement. Fans can vote for either Vinatieri, Julian Edelman, or Logan Mankins to be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame this year, alongside Bill Parcells. Voting closes at midnight on April 30.
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