NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Coming soon as a 10-part docuseries on Apple TV+
From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Tiger Woods comes the definitive inside story of the New England Patriots—the greatest sports dynasty of the 21st century.
It’s easy to forget that the New England Patriots were once the laughingstock of the NFL, a nearly bankrupt team that had never won a championship and was on the brink of moving to St. Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and soon brought on board head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut, making ten trips to the Super Bowl, winning six of them, and emerging as one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world.
How was the Patriots dynasty built? And how did it last for two decades? In The Dynasty, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than two hundred insiders—including team executives, coaches, players, players’ wives, team doctors, lawyers, and more—as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents, and electronic communications.
Through his exhaustive research, Benedict uncovers surprising new details about the inner workings of a team notorious for its secrecy. He puts us in the room as Robert Kraft outmaneuvers a legion of lawyers and investors to buy the team. We listen in on the phone call when the greatest trade ever made—Bill Belichick for a first-round draft choice—is negotiated. And we look over the shoulder of forty-year-old Tom Brady as a surgeon operates on his throwing hand on the eve of the AFC Championship Game in 2018.
But the portrait that emerges in The Dynasty is more rewarding than new details alone. By tracing the team’s epic run through the perspectives of Kraft, Belichick, and Brady—each of whom was interviewed for the book—the author provides a wealth of new insight into the complex human beings most responsible for the Patriots’ success.
The result is an intimate portrait that captures the human drama of the dynasty’s three key characters while also revealing the secrets behind their success. “The Dynasty is...[a] masterpiece...It’s a relationship book, it’s a football book, it’s a business book...you’ll just eat up these stories” (Colin Cowherd).
ISBN-13: 9781982134112
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: 09-07-2021
Pages: 592
Product Dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.40(d)
Jeff Benedict is the bestselling author of seventeen nonfiction books. He’s also a film and television producer. He is the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Tiger Woods. The book was the basis of the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary Tiger, which Benedict executive produced. The Dynasty, the definitive inside story of the New England Patriots under Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady, was a New York Times bestseller. The book is the basis of a forthcoming ten-part documentary series for Apple TV+, which Benedict is executive producing. His critically acclaimed book Poisoned is the basis of a Netflix documentary, which Benedict executive produced. His legal thriller Little Pink House was adapted into a motion picture starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn. Benedict wrote Steve Young’s New York Times bestselling autobiography QB, which was the basis of an NFL Films documentary. Benedict’s upcoming biography of LeBron James will be published in 2023.
Table of Contents
Prologue ix
1 End Game 1
2 Bobby 8
3 Fathers and Sons 14
4 The Long Game 22
5 Leverage 34
6 Sold! 44
7 Meet the New Boss 53
8 This Guy Is Different 69
9 Not So Fast 77
10 She 88
11 The Trouble with Contracts 100
12 New England Versus New York 109
13 You Know Me 120
14 Dear John 127
15 Getting Belichick 139
16 Tommy 153
17 Building the Core 164
18 In an Instant 175
19 Changing Places 186
20 The Perfect Storm 199
21 We Are All Patriots 208
22 Growing Pains 221
23 All in the Family 233
24 League of Their Own 244
25 A Day in the Life 257
26 Loss 268
27 Reload 278
28 Transcendence 290
29 Inconsolable 304
30 Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself 316
31 No Place Like Home 326
32 The Passing 340
33 Breaking Bad 350
34 Moving On 362
35 On To Cincinnati 375
36 The Envy of the League 390
37 New England Versos Everybody 406
38 No One Knows Where the Top Is 426
39 Lord of the Rings 440
40 Heavy is the Crown 449
41 Tension 461
42 Threading the Needle 474
43 Shuttle Diplomacy 483
44 We're Still Here 499
Epilogue 516
Acknowledgments 523
Notes 527
Index 559
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