New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly took umbrage with the fact that longtime Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame before him in 2017.

Kraft, who still has yet to be enshrined in Canton, reacted to Jones' induction with "anger and confusion" due to his belief that it meant Jones was being given credit over him for the NFL's explosion into a multi-billion-dollar empire, per ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr.

At the time of Jones' induction, Kraft reportedly told a friend: "He hasn't been to the NFC title game in two decades and he gets in? How does that work?"

Hall of Fame voter Jason Cole told Van Natta that he interviewed Kraft in 2017 and was asked by the Patriots patriarch for the rationale behind Jones getting inducted.

Cole said he told Kraft that Jones was "P.T. Barnum" and he called Jones "the greatest marketer in the history of the sport," to which Kraft responded with a laugh.

An anonymous HOF voter told Van Natta that Jones' induction "angered all kinds of people because his team doesn't win."

The voter added: "The minute he got in, it changed the landscape for some of these owners and made the lobbying even more aggressive. If Jerry's in, the owners with egos are thinking, why can't I be in?"

While Jones and the Cowboys have not had much recent success, they were the team of the 1990s under his leadership.

Jones purchased the Cowboys in 1989 amid the worst run in franchise history. After making the playoffs in 18 out of 20 seasons from 1966 to 1985, Dallas was struggling through a three-year playoff drought when Jones stepped in.

The Cowboys went 1-15 in Jones' first season at the helm in 1989, but they improved considerably in 1990 to the tune of a 7-9 record, and they returned to prominence one year later.

From 1991 through 1996, the Cowboys made six consecutive playoff appearances and won five NFC East titles and three Super Bowls.

Major personnel decisions that Jones had a hand in contributed to the Cowboys' transformation, including the blockbuster trade of running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings in 1989.

The deal brought back a bevy of draft picks, which were used to select Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith and two key defensive players in safety Darren Woodson and defensive tackle Russell Maryland.

Jones also oversaw the selections of Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman in the first round of the 1989 NFL draft, Hall of Fame guard Larry Allen in the second round of the 1994 NFL draft and numerous other important contributors.

While the Cowboys enjoyed enormous success early in Jones' tenure, they have not reached a Super Bowl or even an NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season.

In many ways, Kraft became the more modern version of Jones after purchasing the Patriots in 1994, as New England went from missing the playoffs in seven straight seasons from 1987 to 1993 to becoming a perennial playoff team.

New England reached the Super Bowl for the first time since 1985 in 1996, and after the arrival of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, the Pats went on to win an unprecedented six Super Bowl titles from 2001 to 2018.

Despite that incredible run of success, Kraft still has not received a Hall of Fame induction of his own, although past Patriots scandals such as Spygate and Deflategate could be par of the reason why.

Even so, the fact that Kraft helped take the Patriots from mediocrity to model franchise figures to eventually land him a spot in Canton.