Sometimes you have to wonder if these players and their agents have [stuff] for brains.
Let's review the bidding. Michael Stone is out of the NFL, pounding the street. That means that 32 teams have decided that he can't play. He's already "tested free agency"... and flunked out. Go find a job as a bricklayer.
So, he gets lucky and the three time Super Bowl champion has twenty-one defensive backs go down with injury last year. They figure, "why not try a bricklayer, we ain't got anybody else" and give him a call.
And, he catches lightening in a bottle. During his short stay, the Pats are impressed enough with his special teams play to give him a vet minimum deal and bring him back the following year. Hey, it sure as heck beats laying bricks, right? Not only that, but the stars and the moon have aligned and said 3-time SuperBowl championship team doesn't even have a starting strong safety, so there's even a shot to get a look as depth in that department along with special teams.
So, what do these idiots do? Halfway through a handle of Southern Comfort, Stone and his agent hatch a brilliant plan: "Let's hold the Pats' feet to the fire and test free agency!" As if the other 31 teams might have a higher vet minimum salary in their version of the Collective Bargaining Agreement! So the bricklayer walks away from an NFL contract, perhaps thinking that Daniel Snyder will be sending his private jet any minute now.
It must drive Belichick nuts to have to deal with morons.