Adam Vinatieri, the former New England Patriots kicker, has addressed the absence of key figures Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Robert Kraft from his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony on Saturday in Canton, Ohio. Vinatieri stated that all three individuals reached out to him with explanations for their inability to attend.
During a Tuesday appearance on WEEI, Vinatieri, who won four Super Bowls with Brady and Belichick, conveyed that there were no hard feelings. He suggested that the focus on their absence was an overblown narrative, especially following some lighthearted jokes he made about them during his induction speech.
"Everybody has a busy schedule. There are other teammates that didn’t make it and I get it. Life, there’s a lot going on," Vinatieri said. He elaborated on the specific reasons provided by each individual. "I got a call from Mr. Kraft stuck on a tarmac and he was clearly upset that he wasn’t able to get his plane there in time. Coach Belichick reaching out to me months ago letting me know, ‘Hey, I’m sorry, I can’t make it in.’ Camp’s going on and all that."
According to Vinatieri, Brady had a prior family vacation commitment. "Tom called me before [and said] ‘I have this family vacation that I had lined up months and months ago and I just really can’t get out of it.’"
Vinatieri also shared that Brady was among the first to contact him after the enshrinement festivities. "First messages I got at 7 o’clock in the morning after a 3 a.m. ending of a party, I got a little red eyes and everyone’s tired, you know what I mean," he recalled. "First message I get was Brady, and he was like, ‘Man that was awesome. You stole the show. It was really really cool. I hope you have a hangover, ha ha ha’… Bantering back and forth."
"Like I said before, there’s zero animosity. I love all those guys," Vinatieri emphasized.
Vinatieri addressed jokes made during his speech, including one about Belichick. "If you got mentioned in my speech, you’re very dear to me," he explained on WEEI. "There’s no animosity. I know people want to start stuff, and I guess I gave you guys two days of good radio to talk about stuff. There’s no animosity. It was meant to be fun. And if you didn’t like it, that means you don’t have a sense of humor."
His enshrinement occurred in the same year that Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl-winning coach with the Patriots, was surprisingly not selected for the Hall of Fame, despite his significant coaching achievements. Vinatieri also included jokes about former teammate Pat McAfee and Peyton Manning during his speech.
Vinatieri, who played 24 NFL seasons for the Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, retired holding NFL records for career points (2,673) and field goals (599). He is widely recognized for his clutch performances, including two game-winning field goals in Super Bowl victories for the Patriots.