BelichickFan

I hadn't noticed until I got in a little fight with some Browns fans that Bruschi is the last starter left. Of course, Troy plays a noticeable role but he's not a starter. I was surprised because we had a good number of holdovers on defense initially but with McGinest's departure they're all gone now.

Also, of the 22 starters, 15 were drafted. 14 + Neal but I include him as we signed him very young, very close to a UDFA. Just the one expensive UFA, Colvin, and the one mid level UFA, Harrison.

Of course a few like Vrabel and Koppen have been expensive UFA re-signings but it's very interesting looking at how our starters were initially acquired. The fight I got into was a thread they started saying how awesome the Patriots defense looked and it immediately moved to "what expensive UFA can they sign". So I had to provide them with this list and things went downhill from there

DE Seymour - DRAFTED
NT Wilfork - DRAFTED
DE Warren - DRAFTED
OLB Vrabel - CHEAP FREE AGENT
ILB Seau - CHEAP FREE AGENT
ILB Bruschi - DRAFTED
OLB Colvin - EXPENSIVE FREE AGENT
CB Hobbs - DRAFTED
S Harrison - MID LEVEL FREE AGENT
S Wilson - DRAFTED
CB Samuel - DRAFTED

Offense ?

QB Brady - DRAFTED
RB Dillon - TRADED FOR (2nd round pick)
TE Watson - DRAFTED
TE Graham - DRAFTED
LT Light - DRAFTED
LG Mankins - DRAFTED
C Koppen - DRAFTED
RG Neal - UNDRAFTED FREE AGENT
RT O'Callaghan - DRAFTED
WR Caldwell - CHEAP FREE AGENT
WR Gabriel - TRADED FOR (5th round pick)

DaBruinz

You forgot the following:

Lonnie Paxton - UDFA
Josh Miller - Mid-Level Free Agent
Stephen Gostkowski - Drafted

SamBam39

nd don't forget Kevin Faulk is another holdover from the pre-Belichick days.

I think that's it:

Bruschi
Brown
Faulk

McGinest and Vinatieri were two that just left.

ChockBlkr

Kind of along the same lines: It would be interesting to know how many of the draft pics or rookie free agents from the Pete Carrol era are still playing in the league as opposed to how many from the Parcells Patriots era.
I can think of a few:
PC - Woody, Faulk, Spires, Tebucky
BP - Bledsoe, Brown, Bruschi, McGinest, Milloy, Law, AV, Glenn, Martin(maybe)
9 to 4 - wow

__________________
"He should have knocked him out" - Pepper Johnson, SB 36

rookBoston

What's even more shocking is how many of these players weren't on the 2001 Championship Team. In 2001, Light and Seymour were rookies, and Brady was a redshirt freshman.

Exactly five of our starters have three rings: Brady, Light, Seymour, Vrabel and Bruschi.

Plus, Lonnie the snow angel, our LS. The only other carryovers are Troy, Kevin and Izzo.


QB Brady --> Brady
QB Bledsoe* --> Cassell
RB Smith* --> Dillon
RB Redmond --> Moroney
FB Edwards* --> Evans
RB Faulk --> Faulk
WR Brown --> Brown
WR Patten* --> Caldwell
WR Coleman --> Gabriel
WR Johnson --> Jackson
TE Wiggins* --> Watson
TE Ruttledge --> Graham
LT Light --> Light
LG Compton --> Mankins
OC Woody* --> Koppen
RG Andruzzi* --> Neal
RT R-Randall --> O'Callaghan
OT Williams --> Kaczur
OC Reugamer* --> Hochstein
P Walter --> Miller
K Vinatieri* --> Gostkowski
DT Mitchell --> NT Wilfork
DT Seymour --> DE Seymour
DE Pleasant --> Warren
DE Hamilton* --> Green
LB McGinest* --> Colvin
LB Bruschi --> Bruschi
LB Vrabel --> Vrabel
LB Johnson --> Seau
LB Phifer --> Banta-Cain
LB Chatham* --> Davis
B Izzo --> Izzo
CB Law* --> Hobbs
CB Smith --> Scott
CB Buckley --> Samuel
FS Jones* --> Wilson
FS Stevens --> Hawkins
SS Milloy* --> Harrison
SS Cherry --> Sanders

*The shocking thing to me is that I count 15 players from that team who are still in the NFL, but not playing for the Pats. Some of it is that we've drafted or signed better players, but many of them left for cap reasons.

__________________
"We want to build a big, strong, tough, smart, fast, disciplined football team that will consistently compete for a championship."
-- Scott Pioli, from the Patriots scouting manual

SamBam39

Wow, your right rook, that IS very interesting. I think it just goes to show you how much this personnel turnover issue is all just part of the patriots approach to continuing to develop a stronger and stronger roster, while also making the salary cap work more and more in their favor. The single minded discipline they use towards their philosophies is one of the key things that separates them from the rest of the NFL. I still can't believe we have 2 first round picks next year too!

BelichickFan

LOL, I bet half the NFL fans haven't put 2 and 2 together yet. They laugh at us losing Branch but in April they'll be saying "damn, the Patriots have two #1 picks AGAIN ?"

It's just great to see our quality starting lineup being filled largely by recent draft choices. Sometimes teams can be running on the fumes of vets which hides the lack of contribution of young guys - that's clearly not the case with us.

rookBoston

Too true. The Pats FO is taking a real beating for letting AV walk. But, I think it was a calculated decision. They were starting to downgrade Adam's value based on age and injuries. And, Adam has actually missed significant time so far this year... proving them right.

Age and time are the factors. Phifer, TJ, Pleasant, Johnson went into retirement. McGinest, Compton, Andruzzi, Vinatieri, Buckley, Antowain... these guys were allowed to walk away on the decline of their careers. We would not value them for the sentiment.

Big Money is another factor, but not as big a player as I would have thought. Branch and Givens (who weren't even on the 2001 team), Woody, Washington... that's it?

Talent and upside. We gave up on Redmond, Wiggins, R-Randall and some other youngsters like Antwan Harris and Leonard Myers. Nugent. Coleman. Plus, we gave up on Bledsoe before it was trendy to give up on him.

And a final category is sheer stupidity. Bobby Hamilton... what did you sign that contract for? Brandon Mitchell went to Seattle to ride the pine. Dumb.

__________________
"We want to build a big, strong, tough, smart, fast, disciplined football team that will consistently compete for a championship."
-- Scott Pioli, from the Patriots scouting manual

SamBam39

Good Points. That's it - the Pats front office does this all in a very methodical, analytical, well thought out way, totally based on value and worth and without letting emotion cloud their decision making. The cumulative results of all these good decisions, albeit, sometimes tough decisions, is that our roster is loaded with young, cheap, talented players and is very deep, and the rest of the nation keeps wondering how the pats can 'lose' all these great players and not take a step backwards. They very rarely mention the fact that great roster management over the years has allowed the pats to build up depth of young talent waiting in the wings. They also rarely mention the ability of Belichick to 'coach up' young players and his system and schemes being so strong as to prepare them and allow them to be put into roles where they are set up to succeed. I think alot of what's going on with this dynasty just goes right over most people's heads.

Oswlek

I'm pretty sure that Neal was also on the 2001 team and has three rings.

But everything else is true and is something I break out to surprise fans of other teams. Most opposing fans think that NE is the same team as they were in 2001 or 2003. This team is steadily rebuilding along the way, and they aren't going anywhere for a while.