Belichick's History/Record When Replacing Well Known Players

[maverick4]

Belichick just traded away our best defensive player on the dynasty, and have a combination of Jarvis Green, Ron Brace, and Derrick Burgess to fill the void.

Let's compile a list (of both positive and negative) to discuss Belichick's history of letting go or demoting well-known players (doesn't matter if it was through release, trade, move to the bench, etc), and having someone to replace that player. There were several great successes, and a few failures.

A few successful instances come to mind:

- Keeping Drew Bledsoe on the bench, and staying with a 6th round pick named Brady in 2001.

- Sudden release of Lawyor Milloy before 2003. We had quietly signed Rodney Harrison, a player nobody else in the league wanted who was cut by the Chargers, and the New England fan base had yet to come to love.

- Letting Damien Woody go. We had drafted a 5th round center named Dan Koppen, who filled in nicely after we let the pro bowl player go.

- Letting Ty Law go. We had a 5th round pick name Asante Samuel who filled the hole at corner.

- Letting Adam Vinatieri go. We drafted a 4th round kicker Gostkowski who is the most accurate Pats kicker in history.

- For failures, letting Deion Branch go and having only Reche Caldwell to replace him. This was probably a forced move by Branch, unexpected by Belichick, though the trade has obviously worked out fabulously for the Pats.

 

[Bledsoe11]

- For failures, letting Deion Branch go and having only Reche Caldwell to replace him. This was probably a forced move by Branch, unexpected by Belichick, though the trade has obviously worked out fabulously for the Pats.

Also, that year Tully Banta-Cain replaced Willie Mac. Probably chalk that up as a failure as well.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

People are forgetting Lawyer Milloy. Pats fans were upset that hoodie cut him a week or so going into the season back in 03' and the players were upset too. in fact, tom jackson said the pats players hated belichick for it which wasn't true. we still won the SB that year and the following year.

 

[BelichickFan]

The hopeful side of me says that it's good that this happened at the end of camp when Belichick has had a chance to see what he has; the disasters of letting Samuel and Branch go were at the start of the offseason and they weren't adequately replaced but Belichick must have thought they could be; hopefully it's different with him having seen the replacements in camp.

 

[Oswlek]

People are forgetting Lawyer Milloy. Pats fans were upset that hoodie cut him a week or so going into the season back in 03' and the players were upset too. in fact, tom jackson said the pats players hated belichick for it which wasn't true. we still won the SB that year and the following year.

In nearly every way imaginable this season is like 2003.

Missed playoffs prior year? Check
Some ugly defense leading to makeover of the secondary? Check
Some key FA signings? Check
A draft class chock full of contributors and likely future starters? Check
Start against Buffalo? Check
Dismiss a popular player with strong ties to media members in the week before the first game? Check

Winning the superbowl? Che.. Alright, I think they will.

 

[Oswlek]

The hopeful side of me says that it's good that this happened at the end of camp when Belichick has had a chance to see what he has; the disasters of letting Samuel and Branch go were at the start of the offseason and they weren't adequately replaced but Belichick must have thought they could be; hopefully it's different with him having seen the replacements in camp.

Branch wasn't "let go", he saw the shape NE was in and leveraged his way out of town.

 

[BelichickFan]

Branch wasn't "let go", he saw the shape NE was in and leveraged his way out of town.

Wording aside, that was a bad example as he was traded at the start of the season.

 

[Disco Volante]

Vinatieri went on to win another SB the year he left the Patriots.

BB didn't trust Gostkowski to hit a 48 yard FG in a dome with a perfect season on the line.

While I certainly much rather have Gostkowski, these things will always bother me.

 

[Oswlek]

Wording aside, that was a bad example as he was traded at the start of the season.

Still, I don't view them as comparable in any way. Branch forced NE's hand by not showing and NE moved Seymour on intentionally despite his apparent desire to stay.

One was purposeful and one was not.

 

[BelichickFan]

Still, I don't view them as comparable in any way. Branch forced NE's hand by not showing and NE moved Seymour on intentionally despite his apparent desire to stay.

One was purposeful and one was not.

Right and my point was Belichick is CHOOSING to dump Seymour after camp which, hopefully, means he thinks his roster can replace him as opposed to Branch who was holding out and forcing the hand even if the replacements weren't adequate.

 

[alvinnf]

Myron Pryor and Ron Brace must be showing up huge in practice. He wouldn't have gotten rid of Seymour at this stage of the season if he didn't know he had an adequate replacement. The OP's list is more than evident of that. Now BB has made mistakes in the draft like everyone else, but I'm pretty sure he knows what he is looking at at his own practice. I can't wait to see how good Pryor turns out to be.

 

[maverick4]

Still, I don't view them as comparable in any way. Branch forced NE's hand by not showing and NE moved Seymour on intentionally despite his apparent desire to stay.

One was purposeful and one was not.

I agree that Belichick didn't really decide to unload Branch and had someone ready to replace him, Branch basically force his way out and Belichick did not anticipate that and had to scramble.

 

[Bill B.]

In nearly every way imaginable this season is like 2003.

Missed playoffs prior year? Check
Some ugly defense leading to makeover of the secondary? Check
Some key FA signings? Check
A draft class chock full of contributors and likely future starters? Check
Start against Buffalo? Check
Dismiss a popular player with strong ties to media members in the week before the first game? Check

Winning the superbowl? Che.. Alright, I think they will.

It's like deja-vu, all over again. You should add "Previous year we were tied for first place in the division but lost on tiebreakers because Brett Favre tanked it in the last game of the season."

 

[BelichickFan]

Myron Pryor and Ron Brace must be showing up huge in practice.

No-one ever mentions Burgess but he's a piece of it too. Between Warren, Wilfork, Burgess, Green Wright, Pryor and Brace we have a ton of guys for different roles.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

People have thrown a lot of criticism at BB for the last few drafts, but the bottom line is we don't have a bunch of busts on our roster because our coach can't swallow his pride. It seems as through the Patriots are as good as any team at evaluating a player immediately during his first offseason and figuring out if the draft pick was good. Players that come to mind are Chad Jackson and Kevin O'Connell. People were amazed that CJ was benched during his rookie season and then cut the next season, but there is no team in the NFL that wants him now. A lesser coach would have kept him on the team for 15 catches a season when there are better options available.

 

[mayoclinic]

No-one ever mentions Burgess but he's a piece of it too. Between Warren, Wilfork, Burgess, Green Wright, Pryor and Brace we have a ton of guys for different roles.

Exactly. I said earlier in another thread that I thought the Seymour trade was a vote of confidence for Brace, Pryor and Burgess. No way BB pulls the plug on this trade unless he has a lot of confidence that the DL can pull it's own weight without Seymour. We've seen BB make errors of judgment before (such as believing that he could plug JAGs into the secondary and still have an effective defense), but it certainly suggests he has a lot of confidence in the new guys. I can't see him doing the trade if the DL roster was the same as a year ago.

 

[DarrylS]

BB didn't trust Gostkowski to hit a 48 yard FG in a dome with a perfect season on the line.

While I certainly much rather have Gostkowski, these things will always bother me.

Could not agree more, this has always been there...

 

[TruthSeeker]

In nearly every way imaginable this season is like 2003.

Missed playoffs prior year? Check
Some ugly defense leading to makeover of the secondary? Check
Some key FA signings? Check
A draft class chock full of contributors and likely future starters? Check
Start against Buffalo? Check
Dismiss a popular player with strong ties to media members in the week before the first game? Check

Winning the superbowl? Che.. Alright, I think they will.

Great post!

 

[DaBruinz]

Also, that year Tully Banta-Cain replaced Willie Mac. Probably chalk that up as a failure as well.

TBC never "replaced" Willie McGinest. TBC was always at the bottom of the OLB/DE depth chart while Willie was at the top. In fact, 2006 was when they brought Seau in so that Vrabel could go back to the OLB opposite Colvin so they wouldn't have to have TBC as a starter.

 

[DaBruinz]

Branch wasn't "let go", he saw the shape NE was in and leveraged his way out of town.

Had Branch been a man of his word and stayed, its likely that the Pats make it to the SB that year.. Unless of course, the twig got snapped at some point during the season.. And considering his injury history since then, he may not have made a difference.