Unlike the Cassandra fans and of course the mediots have to produce copy every day, I like to try to step back and have some perspective. The Patriots started to rebuild in earnest, midway through the 2008 season. Prior to that, I think Belichick was patching, to try and eke out another year from his basic SB roster. Witness the trades for Welker, Moss and Adalius and the unseen of idea of using a First Round pick on a short term player like a RB.
But when Brady went down and the oldsters continued to slow, I think he decided he would have to strip the roster down, and start essentially afresh. The Defense was older, so he began there. He even got a nice retirement package for a favorite, Mike Vrable, extracting a promise from Pioli to pay him, and included him in the Cassel trade.
I think he had to choose between youngsters Wilfork and Mankins versus future HOF d-lineman Richard Seymour and let Seymour go, kind of implicitely acknowledging that Richard would not be Richard, or even in the League perhaps, when the Pats were next in the Super bowl competition.
Some have criticized Belichick for drafting players high and then apparently inexplicably giving up on them before they had an opportunity to mature. But Bill can tell the difference between talent, and talent with true grit, and will choose the lesser talented but with grit, every time.
Occasionally he spent on Offensive players, Vollmer, Tate, Price, Vareen Riddley but mostly drafted Defense, until he thought he had found the proper foundation. As you scan the defensive roster you find names like Deaderick, Love, Wright, Pryor, Ninkovitch, Fletcher, Guyton, Arrington, Sanders, Slater, Moore, Brown, that accompany the higher drafted people like McCourty, Chung, Cunningham, Spikes, Meriwether, Wheately, Butler.
Some were discarded even though they can play and are active in the league elsewhere, like Wheatley, Willhite, Butler, Sanders and Meriwether, for perhaps lesser talents but with poise and grit.
There have been fans and critics that were undermining Belichick with the same snide comments that ultimately destroyed both Paul Brown and Don Shula. "...the game has passed him by", or he has "lost it". Or he is "poor as a GM" and should step down, even though he ends up with in effect double drafts every year. He and his teams have made the playoffs for three seasons now; but never really had a Super bowl-winner, quality club. BB may even be a season premature, even now. But here he is. I expect this club will win a Lombardi, with an unexpected lopsided victory.
Belichick is at the height of his genius. Who else could "rebuild" while winning 11, 12, 13 or 14 games a season, fashioning the best or second best record in the league? Most would accept a few 5-11 seasons, but not Bill Belichick.
You haven't seen anything yet. NFL Beware. Wait 'till NEXT year.
