3x Super Bowl Champ Curtis Martin coasts to HoF

[rhodeislandpatsfan]

Oh that's right, he went to the Jets!!! He gets nothing!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[drew4008]

I would've voted for him. Vinatieri on the other hand... hope he gets hit by a car...

 

[Willie55]

I would've voted for him. Vinatieri on the other hand... hope he gets hit by a car...

Why? Vinatieri did more for the Pats organization than Martin every did.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I really think Martin regrets his decision. If he doesn't, he should. I don't really hold any ill will towards him though. Same with Adam. He was a key part of the best moments of this franchise. I wish him the best so long as he's not playing against us.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Martin was a parcells guy, the pats did not spend the money on him, and well the rest is history...He was never staying here, not with tickle me pete

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Life is all about choices.

He is reportedly a lock to get in next year, which is always the case with the JETS.

 

[The Gr8est]

I remember seeing a presentation a couple of years that Curtis Martin was part of and during the interview with him he was asked why he did so well against the Pats, or did so well in general and his response was terrific. He said that he wanted to show the Pats what they could have had.

So then I waited in vain for the obvious follow up question to that which never came.

"What could YOU have had if you had stayed with the Pats? You could have had three Suerbowl rings."

 

[JoeSixPat]

I really think Martin regrets his decision. If he doesn't, he should. I don't really hold any ill will towards him though. Same with Adam. He was a key part of the best moments of this franchise. I wish him the best so long as he's not playing against us.

Ditto... though with the money both teams were offering I'm not sure I'd have turned them down myself

 

[WhiZa]

I really think Martin regrets his decision. If he doesn't, he should. I don't really hold any ill will towards him though. Same with Adam. He was a key part of the best moments of this franchise. I wish him the best so long as he's not playing against us.

I'm trying to shake out the cobwebs, but wasn't Martin a RFA and the Jets signed him to an offer while it was the Patriots who had the opportunity to match, but didn't?

 

[PatsDeb]

I'm trying to shake out the cobwebs, but wasn't Martin a RFA and the Jets signed him to an offer while it was the Patriots who had the opportunity to match, but didn't?

Don't ask me the details, because I don't know, but it was some kind of poison pill offer cooked up by Parcells that the Pats, in reality, couldn't match. It was outlawed after Parcells and Martin did it, but as I said, I don't remember why.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I'm trying to shake out the cobwebs, but wasn't Martin a RFA and the Jets signed him to an offer while it was the Patriots who had the opportunity to match, but didn't?

Yes but it was a poison pill offer.

CuMar is still a HOF'er rings or no rings though IMO

 

[Rob0729]

I totally blame Bobby Grier for Martin's departure. Not only would he not renegotiate a deal with Martin in the last year of his rookie deal, he even bragged in public that the Pats were only paying him something like $300k to tout his cap management skills which only rubbed it in Martin's face.

As for Vinatieri, I hold no ill will. Word was the Pats didn't want to give him any guaranteed money in the offer they gave him, I don't blame a player for getting the best deal he can. The Tedy Bruschi's of the world who will take deep hometown discounts to stay with the team that drafted him are really few and far between.

 

[blackglass3]

I'm trying to shake out the cobwebs, but wasn't Martin a RFA and the Jets signed him to an offer while it was the Patriots who had the opportunity to match, but didn't?

If I remember correctly, it was a Poison Pill contract. Also if I remember correctly, before the season Martin wanted a new contract and Pete Carroll or Bobby Grier told him No.

Personally, I've never held him leaving against him. He was a Parcells guy, he most likely felt insulted when the Pats wouldn't extend him, and the Jets were not such a scummy organization the years he was there. I am also positive he would run from the present day Jets as fast as his legs would take him.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I'm trying to shake out the cobwebs, but wasn't Martin a RFA and the Jets signed him to an offer while it was the Patriots who had the opportunity to match, but didn't?

Yeah. I don't know about the poison pill clause others were mentioning, but we tendered him at the highest level and received a 1st and 3rd.

The 1st went towards Robert Edwards, who ran for over 1,000 yards his rookie season, then blew out his knee playing flag football :bricks:

 

[Rob0729]

I'm trying to shake out the cobwebs, but wasn't Martin a RFA and the Jets signed him to an offer while it was the Patriots who had the opportunity to match, but didn't?

Martin signed a one year $5 million contract (which was huge for the time for a RB) and he had the option to take a longer term deal. So if the Pats matched the offer, Martin would not have taken the option and would have been an unrestricted free agent the following year.

 

[RobertWeathers]

About the poison pill in the RFA tender the Jets made to Martin.

That clause was a provision in which Martin could become an unrestricted free agent the following season if the Patriots matched the offer, allowing him to leave New England without the Patriots receiving a dime. Also, the deal included a $3.3 million roster bonus that would've wrecked the Patriots' salary cap.

There is no question that we all wanted CM to stay in New England, but in looking at how history played out...

-The Pats drafted Robert Edwards who was a 1100k rusher his rookie year. He suffers a major injury and his career as a starting RB was over but you can't say that that Pats did a bad job of replacing CM in 1998.

-Terry Allen was the fill-in RB in 1999 but since the team was coached by Pete Carroll and was horrendous at taking advantage of the picks the team received for CM and Tuna (thanks to Notorious BG), CM's departure is irrelevant since they went 9-7 (Bledsoe hurt w/ the finger) with the same level of production at RB and were 8-8 the following season and not a SB contender.

-The Jets never won a Super Bowl. The loaded up for 1998 and 1999 and it didn't happen. Sounds familiar??

In 2000, BB comes in and cleans up the cap and continues to do it in 2001. Keep in mind that Martin received almost $16m in the first 3 years so that means CM would have received roughly $20m more from 2001-2003. Gotta ask the question. Would BB have paid almost $7m a year for a RB when the team had so many other needs? OR if CM stays, do they go 10-6 in 1999 and does that save Carroll's job?

ROOKIES LEARN DIFFICULT LESSON

So while it was a dark moment in Pats history as they didn't take care of a potential HoF RB like CM, in retrospect I'm not sure it was that bad of a decison. If they had any draft acumen and good luck (injuries) it would have been a wash IMO.

 

[dhamz]

I always thought Martin was a good but not great RB. His career 4.0 per carry would put him ahead of only John Riggins as a modern HOF RB. What he was ironically for a guy who was an injury concern coming into the league was amazingly durable and that allowed him to compile some very impressive career totals.

 

[AJY the Jets troll]

Curtis Martin is a class act and is a sure fire HOFer. I'll be happy for him when he gets in next year.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

About the poison pill in the RFA tender the Jets made to Martin.



There is no question that we all wanted CM to stay in New England, but in looking at how history played out...

-The Pats drafted Robert Edwards who was a 1100k rusher his rookie year. He suffers a major injury and his career as a starting RB was over but you can't say that that Pats did a bad job of replacing him the next year.

-Terry Allen was the fill-in RB in 1999 but since the team was coached by Pete Carroll and was horrendous at taking advantage of the picks the team received for CM and Tuna (thanks to Notorious BG), CM's departure is irrelevant since they went 9-7 (Bledsoe hurt w/ the finger) with the same level of production at RB and were 8-8 the following season and not a SB contender.

-The Jets never won a Super Bowl. The loaded up for 1998 and 1999 and it didn't happen. Sounds familiar??

In 2000, BB comes in and cleans up the cap and continues to do it in 2001. Keep in mind that Martin received almost $16m in the first 3 years so that means CM would have received roughly $20m more from 2001-2003. Gotta ask the question. Would BB have paid almost $7m a year for a RB when the team had so many other needs? OR if CM stays, do they go 10-6 w/ CM, does that save Carroll's job?

ROOKIES LEARN DIFFICULT LESSON

So while it was a dark moment in Pats history as they didn't take care of a potential HoF RB like CM, in retrospect I'm not sure it was that bad of a decison. If they had any draft acumen and good luck (injuries) it would have been a wash IMO.

Interesting, never thought of it that way. Aside from the Robert Edwards part, because while he was no Curtis I felt the Pats did get their new feature back, so unfortunate what happened to him. But I definitely agree everything worked out for the better. Considering what happened from 2000 onwards, I would not want to change one thing about the late 90s aside from Edwards injury of course.

 

[upstater1]

Martin was a parcells guy, the pats did not spend the money on him, and well the rest is history...He was never staying here, not with tickle me pete

It wasn't a matter of money.

The Pats thought they had him locked up for at least a year with his RFA status.

The problem was that the Patriot front office was not aware of a loophole in the rules that was closed after the Jets used it against the Patriots.

Curtis was a 3rd round draft choice in his third year. We have plenty of those on the Patriots, they have RFA status, and the Patriots don't sweat losing them simply because they have the rights. Parcells exploited a loophole against the Patriots.

They had no choice but to take the 1st and 3rd rounder.

What would you do? Curtis Martin for only one year (as per the poison pill contract) or a 1st and 3rd. I'd bet 99% of Patriot fans would not match the tender offer.

Oh, and by the way, the Patriots made Curtis a decent offer the summer before this all played out. They didn't offer him top dollar, but they did offer him something like $3-4 million per PRIOR to his third year where he was practically paying for the minimum.

They did nothing wrong by Curtis but they were caught with their pants down.