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. Today, the team’s twenty-year reign atop the NFL stands as the longest in league history.
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 readers 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. We watch the NFL’s savviest owner treat Brady like a son, empower Belichick to cut and trade beloved players, and spend sleepless nights figuring out diplomatic ways to keep Brady and Belichick together for two decades. We come to understand how a genius head coach keeps his players at an emotional distance and blocks out anything that gets in the way of winning. And we experience the relentless drive, ferocious competitive nature, and emotional sensitivity that allows Brady to continue playing football into his forties.
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. This is perhaps the most compelling and illuminating book that will ever be written about the greatest professional sports team of our time.
Jeff Benedict is a New York Times best selling author, a special features writer for Sports Illustrated, and a television and film producer. He has written fifteen books on topics ranging from violence against women to a deadly E. coli outbreak to the discovery of a 10,000-year-0ld skeleton in North America. He has also written for the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, and his stories have been the basis of segments on 60 Minutes, 20/20, 48 Hours, Good Morning America, and the Discovery Channel.
Jeff’s most recent book – The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football – was a national best seller and is being developed into a television drama by STARZ Networks. Jeff is a producer and writer for the show. Jeff is also an Executive Producer on the forthcoming motion picture film “Little Pink House,” starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn. The movie is based on Jeff’s book by the same title about the controversial Supreme Court decision on eminent domain.
Jeff has also written numerous autobiographies, including My Name Used to be Muhammad by Muslim-turned-Christian Tito Momen. It was a Book of the Year finalist in 2013. Jeff also wrote the forthcoming autobiography by Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young (Houghton Mifflin/October 2016). He is also a writer and creative consultant for NFL Films on a documentary based on Young’s autobiography that will air on the NFL Network in the Fall of 2016.
Currently, Jeff is writing a biography on Tiger Woods for Simon & Schuster. His popular blog is at www.jeffbenedict.com. Jeff is licensed to practice law in Connecticut and he’s a Distinguished Professor of Writing and Mass Media at Southern Virginia University. He is represented by Richard Pine at InkWell Management in New York City.