Players Returning to the Pats in the BB Era

[brdmaverick]

So obviously Sunday night we had two players (Martellus Bennett & Brian Hoyer) return to the Patriots after stints with at least one other team. Anytime there is a familiar face available, there seems to be some speculation that the Pats should be interested. It got me thinking, how often during the BB era have we seen players leave and come back?

So I'm looking for your help to make this list, but players need to meet the following criteria...

1.) The player must have been on an active roster for at least one other team between stints on the Patriots. (This discounts fringe roster players like Russ Ventrone who were cut and resigned weekly).

2.) The player must have been on an active roster on the Pats during the BB era during their first and second stints with the Pats. (This excludes guys who have 'come back' but not made the team such as Brandon Spikes, Jabar Gaffney, and I think Brian Waters).

Alright, so with that criteria here's the list I have thus far...........

Martellus Bennett
Brian Hoyer
Deion Branch
LeGarrette Blount
Patrick Chung
Donte Stallworth
Tully Banta Cain

Edit (based on forum feedback):
Andre Carter
Ken Walter

2019 Edit (officially joining the list this season):
Jamie Collins
Brandon Bolden
Ben Watson
Jordan Richards (good call Hammer of Thor)

I'm sure I'm missing plenty so hopefully you guys can help me out.

 

[RobertWeathers]

So obviously Sunday night we had two players (Martellus Bennett & Brian Hoyer) return to the Patriots after stints with at least one other team. Anytime there is a familiar face available, there seems to be some speculation that the Pats should be interested. It got me thinking, how often during the BB era have we seen players leave and come back?

So I'm looking for your help to make this list, but players need to meet the following criteria...

1.) The player must have been on an active roster for at least one other team between stints on the Patriots. (This discounts fringe roster players like Russ Ventrone who were cut and resigned weekly).

2.) The player must have been on an active roster on the Pats during the BB era during their first and second stints with the Pats. (This excludes guys who have 'come back' but not made the team such as Brandon Spikes, Jabar Gaffney, and I think Brian Waters).

Alright, so with that criteria here's the list I have thus far...........

Martellus Bennett
Brian Hoyer
Deion Branch
LeGarrette Blount
Patrick Chung
Donte Stallworth
Tully Banta Cain

I'm sure I'm missing plenty so hopefully you guys can help me out.

Its a good list.

Do players who were FAs count? Hightower? Troy Brown? JE11? Theoretically they came back under their own will

Branch was a trade so in theory he had no choice but I'm sure when Bill called Stinky Pete Branch was excited.

 

[brdmaverick]

Its a good list.

Do players who were FAs count? Hightower? Troy Brown? JE11? Theoretically they came back under their own will

.

Only if they played for another team at some point in between stints with the Patriots.

 

[bbobbo]

andre carter, 2011 & 2013 (2012 in oakland)

 

[TB_Helmet]

I completely forgot that Stallworth had a second stint with the Pats.

 

[Bruins29]

Patrick Pass 00-06 and the again in 09 (practice squad only though) after spending time on Texans and Giants.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Ken Walter had a brief comeback in 2006 (on Seattle in 2004, out of league in 2005 and most of 2006).

 

[goheels22002]

Doug Flutie had two stints with the Patriots.

Josh McDaniels belongs on the list as a coach

 

[Tony2046]

Just an FYI.

Found this interesting when trying to look up some players.

Since 2000 that Pats have had 473 different players on the team.

I stopped searching after that.

 

[Clonamery]

Just an FYI.

Found this interesting when trying to look up some players.

Since 2000 that Pats have had 473 different players on the team.

I stopped searching after that.

Huh, I thought it would be more. The math makes my head hurt...never used to, oh, I hope it’s not some millennial disease or something.

 

[NE-VT]

Cool post idea. It would also be interesting to see how many players left and did not come back, but played for 2+ years for other teams. We could determine a rate at which players return.

 

[DarrylS]

Always appeared to me that many Pats players excel in this system, but do not do as well in other systems... playing to their strengths instead of making them do things that they are not as comfortable seems to be the difference..

Some do better.. Chandler Jones is having a good year(10 sacks) and Jamie Collins(now on IR) does not seem to be doing all that well, maybe it has to do with Cleveland..

 

[Tony2046]

Huh, I thought it would be more. The math makes my head hurt...never used to, oh, I hope it’s not some millennial disease or something.

I guess if every player played 1 year it would add up to a total of 954 players.

Divide that by 473 and you'll get an average time played per player of 2 years.

No clue what the value of knowing that number is but I'm going to to use it in an obscure argument or discussion in the near future.

 

[Tony2046]

Cool post idea. It would also be interesting to see how many players left and did not come back, but played for 2+ years for other teams. We could determine a rate at which players return.

You might be searching for a false positive being that the average duration a player plays for the Patriots is 2 years. So I'd set the search criteria to meet less than average inputs giving you a wider result to analyze.

 

[Tony2046]

You might be searching for a false positive being that the average duration a player plays for the Patriots is 2 years. So I'd set the search criteria to meet less than average inputs giving you a wider result to analyze.

@NE-VT

Just to be clear. I have no idea what this post means. I was just trying to follow up on my promise made in my previous post.

 

[NE-VT]

@NE-VT

Just to be clear. I have no idea what this post means. I was just trying to follow up on my promise made in my previous post.

Yep, I marked I agree to play along <3

 

[NE-VT]

You might be searching for a false positive being that the average duration a player plays for the Patriots is 2 years. So I'd set the search criteria to meet less than average inputs giving you a wider result to analyze.

Lets go back to the replay for a breakdown!

"for a false positive": Not sure what a false positive would be in this case. It is not like we are developing a test to predict a disease.

"being that the average duration a player plays for the Patriots is 2 years.": Source? The average happens to be a whole number? LMAO. Even running backs last longer than that NFL: average career length | Statista

"So I'd set the search criteria to meet less than average inputs giving you a wider result to analyze": Search criteria? Inputs? Wider Results?

I was pretty sure that this post was sarcastic, given you have shown no propensity for using mumbo-jumbo. But, the joke point did raise a real critism:

There is no reason for me to use 2+. I chose it arbitrary. I was just interested in looking at % of people that come back, and wanted to ignore the ones that leave our team on their way to bombing out of the league.

Just an FYI.

Found this interesting when trying to look up some players.

Since 2000 that Pats have had 473 different players on the team.

I stopped searching after that.

Did you use PFR? Would you mind giving me the link? I might actually check this out at some point, maybe during the offseason.

or were you joking about that part also? because that one went over my head.

 

[Tony2046]

Lets go back to the replay for a breakdown!

"for a false positive": Not sure what a false positive would be in this case. It is not like we are developing a test to predict a disease.

"being that the average duration a player plays for the Patriots is 2 years.": Source? The average happens to be a whole number? LMAO. Even running backs last longer than that NFL: average career length | Statista

"So I'd set the search criteria to meet less than average inputs giving you a wider result to analyze": Search criteria? Inputs? Wider Results?

I was pretty sure that this post was sarcastic, given you have shown no propensity for using mumbo-jumbo. But, the joke point did raise a real critism:

There is no reason for me to use 2+. I chose it arbitrary. I was just interested in looking at % of people that come back, and wanted to ignore the ones that leave our team on their way to bombing out of the league.



Did you use PFR? Would you mind giving me the link? I might actually check this out at some point, maybe during the offseason.

or were you joking about that part also? because that one went over my head.

Yes I used PFR and did a query on Patriot players since 2000 which resulted in a total of 473.

Player Game Finder Query Results | Pro-Football-Reference.com

I then reasoned that if each player only played one season the total would have been 954. 53 x 18= 945

So 954/473 = 2.02 Average years a player is with the Patriots.

I am curious of how that compares to other teams but not sure what it would mean if the Pats rated higher or lower.

 

[Tony2046]

@NE-VT

Just did the same query for a few other teams:

Pats - 473 / 2.02
Jete - 483 / 1.98
Browns - 552 / 1.72
Cowboys - 469 / 2.03
Bengals - 383 / 2.5

Quite a range. Problem is what does that mean?

I guess comparing the averages between the winningest and losingest teams might tell you something.

 

[NE-VT]

Yes I used PFR and did a query on Patriot players since 2000 which resulted in a total of 473.

Player Game Finder Query Results | Pro-Football-Reference.com

I then reasoned that if each player only played one season the total would have been 954. 53 x 18= 945

So 954/473 = 2.02 Average years a player is with the Patriots.

I am curious of how that compares to other teams but not sure what it would mean if the Pats rated higher or lower.

I can totally do that comparison! I might come back to it in the offseason however, or I might randomly be procrastinating and just do it. I love questions like these.

I see now what you meant about the average of 2 years. Sorry if my "joke breakdown" was rude. I thought you were teasing me because said "2+" years, but that was a total coincidence. The number actually was ~2. LMAO & my bad, I missed the post above. I was just trying to trash talk back.

I even think I could (potentially) answer more questions, depending on how the PFR data is recorded:

1. What percentage of Pats players come back?
2. For those that do not come back, how long before they retire?
3. How does 1. change as a function of length of time spent on the Pats?
4. How does 2. change as a function of length of time spent on the Pats?
5. How does 1-4 vary from team to team?

For example, it might be the case that former Patriots players stick around the league way later. Whatever they learn from BB helps them become long term players. It might also vary based on how long they were on the Pats.

The annoying part will be downloading the (CSV) files from PFR. Once I do that the coding might be quick. Anyway, sorry if that got too mathy again!