From Greg Garber’s feature “The Patriot Way” about New England’s philosophy of letting veteran players go and replacing them with younger ones who make less money:
Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe (1993-2001): “If they decide they can live without you and they can find someone else to play that position for less money, you’re out the door.”
Patriots cornerback Ty Law (1995-2004): “They put a cap on you. They say this is what they value you, and they stick to what works for them.”
Patriots lineman Damien Woody (1999-2003): “I remember coach (Belichick) telling me Bill Walsh once said that it’s better to get rid of a player a year early than a year too late.”
Law: “You can’t help but take things personal, even though you know it’s a business. … I didn’t feel I needed to restructure or take a pay cut when I was at the top of my game. … I think it has cost them championships. I think they let go of too many guys that can rally the troops and win those playoff games or Super Bowls.”
Bledsoe: “I think it would be a hard case to make that their business model is costing them that much. … If you play for the Patriots, and honestly it doesn’t matter if you’re Tom Brady, if they have another guy that can play the position as well or better, then Tom will have his time too, and he knows that.”
On the Patriots’ model …
Johnson: “You’d like to see New England make more of a financial commitment to players that have been in the organization that helped them win football games, but that’s not the way this game works.”
Lewis: “This is simply the way the Patriots do business … Their loyalty is not in the player. The loyalty is into the system. As long as the system keeps rolling, we don’t really care what the player feelings are.”
Ditka: “Same thing happened with the 49ers. Bill Walsh got rid of a lot of guys. … They could still play but one or two years later they weren’t going to be the same players.”
