Plus, th last year was guaranteed for Martin if the Pats kept him on. Not so with the Jets.
No. You can't put a clause into a contract which is team specific. The poison pill was the fact that the contract let Martin choose the lenght. He had the option to get out after 1 year. And the Pats said there was tampering between Martin and the Jets, to make sure he wouldn't leave after 1 year. The Pats had no such guarantee if the decided to match the offer sheet. But it was the same contract for both teams...
Did I think it was worth signing Martin to 13 millions ? No, of course. But why wait so long for your franchise player ? They had to find a way to fit Martin under the cap and made the mistake of thinking that no team would make an offer for a restricted free agent (because of the 1st round draft pick compensation). It was a mistake, obviously, since Martin went away. A miscalculation, and Grier was the man in charge. Actually, they were quite happy to get a pretty high draft pick for Martin, thinking they could get better value...
Rucci and Lane were so good that NO team picked them up when they were released. Yes, they made it to the Super Bowl, and yet, Reggie White had a Super Bowl record 3 sacks and Martin was limited to less than 60 yards. Both were out of football by 2000. Those were worth getting the team against the cap ceiling ?
Anyways, your argument is weak : Robinson-Randall was starting for the Pats in 2001. He has a Super Bowl ring. 3 years later he was a backup in the CFL. Some players on Super Bowl teams are weaker than other...
But again, for the third time, all of this has nothing to do with Carroll. And again, look at the stats, Carroll's Pats had about the same stats than Parcells the year before. The thread was who was responsible for the free fall, and it's clear Grier didn't do anything good to the roster, beside Woody (Edwards looked like a keeper, but we will never know).
Compare the roster between 1996 and 1999, and it's obvious the level of talent took a nose dive. The starting running back in 1999, Allen, was 31 and played 15 games in the NFL after the Pats cut him. Coates, the starting tight end, played another 16 games and got 9 more catches after Belichick cut him. Simmons, the 3rd wr, caught only 16 passes after the 1999 season and was out of football by 2002. Jefferson, the 2nd wr, ended up starting only 16 more games in the NFL after the 1999 season. Brisby, the 5th wr, played 3 more games and that was it. Armstrong, the left tackle, was cut by Belichick, but resigned for the 2000 season, his final one. Carter, the fb, started just 6 games in the NFL after 1999. Irwin, the left guard, started another 12 games in the next 2 season and was out of football at 29. Moss, the right tackle, didn't play another game after the 1999 season. In offense, 7 of the 11 starters from 1999 were out of football within 2 years. What did you expected Carroll to do with the players Grier had provided him ?
I won't go into such details for the defense, but Thomas, Slade, Katzenmoyer and Israel, 4 of the 11 starters, were out of football by 2001. Carter & Mitchell both started less than 16 games, after 1999, before being out of work.
So 13 of the 22 starters from the 1999 team were either out of football or had very limited playing time in the next few years. If you still think Grier had nothing to do with the fall, I bet there will be more players from the 2008 Bengals in the NFL in 2 years than the 1999 Pats had.