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With all the Chicken Little talk floating around, I have to ask you guys something:
Where did the current stars we are losing become stars?
Yeah. Foxboro, MA.
Something we all need to realize about the current model is that we rarely buy a star. We usually buy or draft someone you don't know much about. Five years later, he has been to some big games, learned some big skills, and maximized his potential. Then, he wants to get paid.
Vinatieri, Givens, and McGinnest - we'd be crazy not to miss them. But at the same time, look at what we don't do. We don't go out and make a run at, say, Randel El, just because he was okay on one Super Bowl team. Dillon was the lone exception - but take a look at his initial Pats contract, before he produced big-time in 04.
Think about this, people. I hear things about Moulds. Sounds great, and part of me says "oh God I hope so." But another part says, "yeah, and for how much?" In a perverse way, Kraft has brought the Free Agency process full-circle. People use to say "I don't even know who's on my team, wahhhh, how can I follow my favorite player?" What we've learned is, you can't. Ever. Not for sure.
You only know there's a team called the Pats in those uniforms, year in and year out. And it makes your team loyalty stronger.
Individuals grow into stars out of the Patriots model, and I wish them well (although so far, the Laws and Milloys of the world aren't looking that appealing.) But it's hard NOT to see, that the departing Names are part of the model - once you're a Name, the Pats are vulnerable to your departure. But not. The confidence is there that the Pats will groom a prospect, whether from Free Agency or from the Draft.
Who on the Pats has freakish physical gifts? Watson. Seymour. Branch. Bethel Johnson, in terms of speed.
That's it. The rest of it is toughness, good but not brilliant skills, role-playing, game management, mental discipline, making a vision real. You want to say Brady's got the best arm in the NFL? Wrong and incorrect. Dillon is the best back? Far, far from it. And they weren't in 04 either.
But for 3 years they were the best TEAM in the NFL. And they will be again. Yes, there are exceptions. Brady is a great talent, and will probably retire a Pat. Seymour looks set to get a big raise this year or next. But very few can get that treatment.
And some guy you have never heard of is about to replace McGinnest, not this year, maybe not next. But you'll hear his name in 5 years and go "oh yeah. That was the season we were all freaked about 3 guys leaving."
In Vino Veritas,
PFnV
Where did the current stars we are losing become stars?
Yeah. Foxboro, MA.
Something we all need to realize about the current model is that we rarely buy a star. We usually buy or draft someone you don't know much about. Five years later, he has been to some big games, learned some big skills, and maximized his potential. Then, he wants to get paid.
Vinatieri, Givens, and McGinnest - we'd be crazy not to miss them. But at the same time, look at what we don't do. We don't go out and make a run at, say, Randel El, just because he was okay on one Super Bowl team. Dillon was the lone exception - but take a look at his initial Pats contract, before he produced big-time in 04.
Think about this, people. I hear things about Moulds. Sounds great, and part of me says "oh God I hope so." But another part says, "yeah, and for how much?" In a perverse way, Kraft has brought the Free Agency process full-circle. People use to say "I don't even know who's on my team, wahhhh, how can I follow my favorite player?" What we've learned is, you can't. Ever. Not for sure.
You only know there's a team called the Pats in those uniforms, year in and year out. And it makes your team loyalty stronger.
Individuals grow into stars out of the Patriots model, and I wish them well (although so far, the Laws and Milloys of the world aren't looking that appealing.) But it's hard NOT to see, that the departing Names are part of the model - once you're a Name, the Pats are vulnerable to your departure. But not. The confidence is there that the Pats will groom a prospect, whether from Free Agency or from the Draft.
Who on the Pats has freakish physical gifts? Watson. Seymour. Branch. Bethel Johnson, in terms of speed.
That's it. The rest of it is toughness, good but not brilliant skills, role-playing, game management, mental discipline, making a vision real. You want to say Brady's got the best arm in the NFL? Wrong and incorrect. Dillon is the best back? Far, far from it. And they weren't in 04 either.
But for 3 years they were the best TEAM in the NFL. And they will be again. Yes, there are exceptions. Brady is a great talent, and will probably retire a Pat. Seymour looks set to get a big raise this year or next. But very few can get that treatment.
And some guy you have never heard of is about to replace McGinnest, not this year, maybe not next. But you'll hear his name in 5 years and go "oh yeah. That was the season we were all freaked about 3 guys leaving."
In Vino Veritas,
PFnV