Pat McAfee created an awkward moment when making a cryptic remark to Robert Kraft on Saturday’s College GameDay.
With ESPN operating at Gillette Stadium, the site of Army’s win over Navy, the weekly show welcomed the New England Patriots owner. McAfee made a vague comment to Kraft that most onlookers assumed was him foreshadowing Bill Belichick’s possible firing this offseason.
“I don’t envy your position,” McAfee told Kraft. “What’s about to happen, we all know. We don’t have to ask.”
With Robert Kraft on the Gameday set, Pat McAfee not so subtly hints at parting ways with Belichick.
Kraft: “We like to win, so we want to do everything we can to get our team back so we can be winning.”
McAfee: “I don’t envy your position. What’s about to happen. We all know.“ pic.twitter.com/xpW1d6B0LJ
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) December 9, 2023
During Monday’s show, via WEEI’s Mike Kadlick, McAfee said the internet “built a narrative” around his remark and pushed back on the idea that he “ambushed” Kraft.
McAfee also claimed that Kraft has other issues to address, such as New England’s quarterback situation.
“When I said I don’t envy your position, everybody in Boston was like, ‘He just told Robert Kraft he has to fire Bill.’ I was like, ‘Yo, you said that,'” McAfee said. “I was talking about all of the other — maybe that’s one of them, maybe that’s certainly one of the outcomes. Which leads me even more to say I don’t envy his position.”
Pat McAfee responds to the pushback he received about his comments to #Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Saturday’s College GameDay at Gillette Stadium (via @PatMcAfeeShow):
“At the end, I think they said anybody else have anything?’ and I’m like, ‘I do not envy your position’, is…
— Mike Kadlick (@mikekadlick) December 11, 2023
McAfee and the GameDay crew also welcomed Belichick, who donned a vintage Navy helmet in a separate segment from his boss. Nobody made any ominous statements about his job security.
While McAfee picked an odd way to end a light-hearted interview, Kraft indeed faces an unenviably tricky choice.
With four weeks remaining, the Patriots have already lost 10 games for the first time since Tom Brady’s rookie year in 2000. They have made just one playoff appearance (a first-round loss) since Brady’s departure, so Belichick’s future is murky.
McAfee insisted he didn’t mean to disrespect Kraft in any way by putting him on the spot.
“I just would like to let everybody know that I was not disrespecting Robert Kraft,” said McAfee. “It was the complete opposite of that. It was like, massive respect for everything and you have a tough position right now.”