Your Opinion of Best/Worst Belichick Free Agent Signings.

Doesn't have to be 6 or 10 ... choose as you please.
For me I used the criteria that you needed to be a key part of a Patriots Super Bowl season.
and for the worst you had to suck and I literally hated seeing you in the Patriot uniform.

WORST
1: Adalius Thomas
2: Monty Beisel
3: Shawn Springs
4: Donald Hayes
5: Joey Galloway
6: Chad Brown

BEST
1: Rodney Harrison
2: Mike Vrabel
3: Darrelle Revis
4: Roman Phifer
5: Anthony Pleasant
6: Rob Ninkovich
7: Larry Izzo
8: David Patten
9: Rosevelt Colvin
10: Bandon Lafell / Antowain Smith

Edit: Ochocinco was a trade and not a free agent signing.


For the worst I would go with Chad Johnson over Adalius Thomas.

At the time Thomas was signed he was considered an athletic freak, a guy who could play almost any position on defense. That type of versatility is perfect for Belichick's defensive scheme. As we found out later he was a guy who looked better than he was thanks to those around him in Baltimore, and after the '08 injury things ended badly in 2009.

OchoCinco on the other hand was a player that was clearly in decline when the Pats signed him, and never appeared to be the type of player that could grasp the offensive scheme that the Patriots use (QB and receiver reading the defense and adjusting route accordingly).

While Thomas did have a big contract, Johnson's was relatively burdensome as well - and he was far less productive. Thomas at least had one good season with the Pats, and his second was cut short by an unforeseen injury. It was only in his third year that things went sour. Johnson on the other hand was a bust and drain on the cap from day one.

jmt57 said:

Chad Johnson

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Trade

Joey Galloway was worth it just to see Brady flip out at him.

I don't care what his numbers were, and they were inflated due to the high number of targets. I didnt like Brandon Lloyd at all.

this isnt my post and i dont want to spend too much time going back to look at all the free agent signings we have had. however, just to comment on the ones mentioned

A Thomas does stick out as one that didnt work out. r. colvin. he was pretty good i think. not awful. With respect to the others, its really hard to criticize them because i dont think we really spent all that much money/draft picks on them. yes, they didnt work out, but the cost didnt kill us.

just to do this out loud.

theoretically the more you spend the bigger the bust could be if there is a failure. we had a few. not many. we spent small on alot of guys, some worked out some didnt. nothing that really hurt us

Worst:
Deltha ONeal
Adrian Wilson

Best:
Andre Carter
Jabar Gaffney

reneluar said:

Worst:
Deltha ONeal
Adrian Wilson

Best:
Andre Carter
Jabar Gaffney

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Wha???? you think signing Oneil for one year at 1 mil was the worst FA signing BB ever made? Also, you think the Carter signing was better than Revis? Vrabel? Harrison?

I'll throw a few other names out there for consideration of the best (though not all were part of a championship team, or veteran free agents):

Gino Cappelletti (undrafted)
Stephen Neal (UDFA, was also with the Eagles)
Adam Vinatieri (UDFA, played in Europe)
Mack Herron (undrafted, played in the CFL)
Randy Vataha (undrafted, cut by Rams)
Dan Connolly (undrafted, cut by Jaguars)
Danny Woodhead (undrafted, cut by Jets)
Bobby Hamilton
Bryan Cox (only one season though)
Brian Waters (also only one season)

Besides Cappelletti, there are also a few other AFL-era players like Bob Dee, Jim Colclough, etc.


Edit: my apologies; I overlooked that the topic was limited to Belichick free agent signings with Patriots.

JMC00 said:

Trade

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Yeah, I just remembered that and was about to edit/note that.

Good catch.

ted washington was a good one.. when did we pick him up in 03? and in 01 we picked up a C/G the bald guy was on lions. dont remember his name. he was on our 01 team. that was a good leadership role character guy

roman phifer, brian cox. c dillon, antowain smith

i cant think of bad ones. some big names we picked up didnt work out but they were via trades but werent premier type picks we gave up. haynesworth, loco cinco

billdog3484 said:

ted washington was a good one.. when did we pick him up in 03? and in 01 we picked up a C/G the bald guy was on lions. dont remember his name. he was on our 01 team. that was a good leadership role character guy

roman phifer, brian cox. c dillon, antowain smith

i cant think of bad ones. some big names we picked up didnt work out but they were via trades but werent premier type picks we gave up. haynesworth, loco cinco

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Brian Cox

I love that guy. He is hilarious. I was hoping he would join our coaching staff. I can just see him and Bill sitting around a campfire with cigars and whiskey.

Personally I would also swap Chad Brown and Monty Beisel on the worst list.

Beisel was more infamous, but he wasn't even supposed to be a starter. Brown on the other hand was signed for twice as much money, and thanks in part to not clashing with the media the way Beisel did, did not get crucified as much - though to be fair, Brown wasn't quite as bad as Beisel was.

not bad when your worst signing in 15 years was a 5 million dollar per year LB who started 35 games in 3 years, and there best was signing one of the best safeties to ever play the game for six years and never having his cap hit over 4 million.

we fans don't always like the way the pats play small money ball with outside FA's but when they hit they hit big and when they fail they don't set the team back

Albert Haynesworth was a disaster. I wouldn't call A. Thomas signing terrible. Just not as good as hoped. Rodney should have won Defensive Player of Year in 03. And, Super Bowl 39 MVP. He was awesome here.

Bruins29 said:

Wha???? you think signing Oneil for one year at 1 mil was the worst FA signing BB ever made? Also, you think the Carter signing was better than Revis? Vrabel? Harrison?

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well, i was trying to remember some of the FA signings NOT LISTED in the 1st post

I'd add Junior Seau to the list of Best signings. Not at the top or anything, but if we could give an award for "Most unexpectedly good FA signing" it would be Seau. Nobody thought the guy had anything left in the tank, but he ended up playing here for 4 seasons and got lots of reps in 2 of those.

Do players like adrian Wilson or joey Galloway really count? Neither of these guys really got any money

billdog3484 said:

ted washington was a good one.. when did we pick him up in 03? and in 01 we picked up a C/G the bald guy was on lions. dont remember his name. he was on our 01 team. that was a good leadership role character guy

roman phifer, brian cox. c dillon, antowain smith

i cant think of bad ones. some big names we picked up didnt work out but they were via trades but werent premier type picks we gave up. haynesworth, loco cinco

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Mike Compton. I believe Ted was a trade for a 4th rounder.

Brian Kinchen