Best Patriots by Jersey Number

[Bruins29]

I'll I don't care for Moss at all, I don't even consider him a football player.

Wrong

 

[Ring 6]

1. Wrong. Bruschi was the more complete and better LB. He was also the QB of the best defenses we've had in the run and was the leader on D.

Bruschi................................Hightower

90 tackles per 16 games.....96 tackles per 16 games
12 int...................................0 int
30.5 sacks...........................17 sacks
17 forced fumbles...............2 forced fumbles
4 defensive td.....................1 defensive td

You have to watch more games. Love Bruschi but even he will tell you Hightower is a better football player. lol at using stats to show what LB is better. That's a good one.

and yeah, Drew was a .500 QB because the teams he was on were not good. Outside of 2 of the Parcells years he was on bad teams and had to do a lot on his own. Put him on a team with a good coaching and a properly built team and his record skyrockets.

Drew was a .500 QB because of drew. The Carroll teams were good and Drew held them back in big games, or are we ignoring the 6 point 2 pick effort vs Pitt?

and Kraft didnt single handedly keep the Patriots here, despite the narrative. It was the trio of Kraft, Parcells and Bledsoe. Without Drew, the #1 overall pick and QB of the future, Parcells doesn't come here. Without those 2 this franchise is not what it is today. They laid the groundwork

Kraft bought the team not Bledsoe. Kraftv was buying the team with or without Bledsoe.
The success came with Belichick. Actually the success came when Bledsoe sat down.

 

[1960Pats]

Love me some Edelman but Bledsoe is in a different class. Face of a franchise that was a laughing stock at the time. Love the guy to this day even though he will always be the afterthought as a QB to TB12.

54...Hightower is a fantastic player and I am thrilled we have him. No Pats player comes close to Bruschi for me. It's him, and TB12 at the top of my favorites.

Ditto for me and you can add Troy Brown.

 

[jmt57]

I broke these up into several categories, though there is enough gray area that many of these uniform numbers can easily be placed in a different section. It turns out there are a lot more difficult/debatable choices for 'best jersey number ever' than I thought there would be, and a few that are virtually impossible to determine.

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The Obvious Choices:

#4 -- Adam Vinatieri -- (next closest, Jason Staurovsky)
#12 -- Tom Brady -- (next, Matt Cavanaugh)
#14 -- Steve Grogan -- (Tom Yewcic, Vinny Testaverde, Zoltan Mesko...)
#15 -- Babe Parilli -- (Chris Hogan, Marc Wilson, Kelley Washington, Ryan Mallett)
#20 -- Gino Cappelletti -- deserves to be in HoF; nobody else has ever worn #20
#24 -- Ty Law -- (**** Felt, Darrelle Revis, Kyle Arrington)
#26 -- Raymond Clayborn -- (Eugene Wilson)
#35 -- Jim Nance -- (Patrick Pass, Jonas Gray)
#36 -- Lawyer Milloy -- (James Sanders)
#39 -- Sam Cunningham -- (Danny Woodhead Laurence Maroney, B Browner)
#51 -- Jerod Mayo -- (Eugene Lockhart, Bob Golic...)
#55 -- Willie McGinest -- (even though Don Blackmon was very good)
#57 -- Steve Nelson -- (nobody else has worn #57 in thirty years)
#65 -- Houston Antwine -- (Damien Woody is a distant second)
#73 -- John Hannah
#75 -- Vince Wilfork
#78 -- Bruce Armstrong
#79 -- Jim Lee Hunt
#83 -- Wes Welker -- (honorable mention to Deion Branch [1st stint], 2002-05)
#86 -- Stanley Morgan -- (also worn by David Patten)
#89 -- Bob Dee -- one of only two numbers to have only been worn by one player
#93 -- Richard Seymour


The Easy Choices:
#1 -- John Smith -- (over his successor, Tony Franklin)
#3, Stephen Gostkowski -- (even though Rich Camarillo is the Pats best all-time P)
#16 -- Jim Plunkett -- (Matt Cassell only started one season)
#31 -- Fred Marion -- (Brandon Meriweather, Aqib Talib)
#38 -- Roland James -- (Brandon Bolden)
#48 -- Tim Fox -- (only other starter was Don Webb, before he switched to #42)
#56 -- Andre Tippett -- (honorable mention to Jon Morris and Rod Shoate)
#58 -- Pete Brock -- (ST Matt Chatham may be the second best #58...)
#70 -- Logan Mankins -- (Leon Gray was very good, but had only six years w/Pats)
#87 -- Rob Gronkowski -- (over Ben Coates, David Givens)


Numbers Worth Mentioning a Second or Third Player:
#18 -- Randy Vataha - (Matt Slater and Donte' Stallworth)
#32 -- Devin McCourty - (Andy Johnson, Antowain Smith, Craig James)
#33 -- Kevin Faulk - (over Tony Collins)
#42 -- Ronnie Lippett - (Don Webb, Mack Herron, BJGE)
#44 -- Don Calhoun - (over John Stephens)
#59 -- Vincent Brown - (over Rosevelt Colvin)
#60 -- Len St. Jean - (over Garin Veris)


Difficult Choices:
#11 -- Drew Bledsoe > Julian Edelman
#22 -- Asante Samuel > Ron Burton and Stevan Ridley
#28 -- Curtis Martin > Corey Dillon
#37 -- Rodney Harrison > Maurice Hurst
#40 -- Mike Haynes > Larry Garron
#50 -- Mike Vrabel > Rob Ninkovich (and Larry McGrew and Sam Hunt)
#52 -- Ted Johnson > Johnny Rembert
#54 -- Tedy Bruschi > Dont'a Hightower (though that may eventually change)
#61 -- Sam Adams > Stephen Neal and Ron Wooten
#67 -- Bill Lenkaitis > Dan Koppen (very close call here)
#72 -- Matt Light > Larry Eisenhauer
#76 -- Sebastian Vollmer > Charlie Long and Brian Holloway (?)
#77 -- Nate Solder > Tom Neville, (and Nick Kaczur, Pat Harlow, Kenneth Sims)
#81 -- Jim Colclough > Russ Francis > Randy Moss (???)
#82 -- Daniel Graham > Jim Whalen > Vincent Brisby (??)
#84 -- Darryl Stingley > Shawn Jefferson, Art Graham, Ben Watson, Deion Branch (2nd stint, 2010-12) (?)
#85 -- Julius Adams > Nick Buoniconti (can only consider time spent w/Patriots)


More Close Calls Worth Debating:
#25 -- Rick Sanford > Ross O'Hanley
#27 -- Ellis Hobbs > Ron Bolton
#29 -- Harold Jackson > LeGarrette Blount
#30 -- Mosi Tatupu > Carl Garrett
#53 -- Tom Addison > Chris Slade (and Larry Izzo and Clayton Weisuhn)
#62 -- Ryan Wendell > Dwight Wheeler
#64 -- Richard Bishop > Dave Wohlabaugh
#68 -- Max Lane > Tom Ashworth
#71 -- Ray Hamilton > Todd Rucci
#80-- Troy Brown > Irving Fryar
#90 -- Chad Eaton > Toby Williams
#91 -- Jamie Collins > Bobby Hamilton (?)
#95 -- Chandler Jones > Roman Phifer
#98 -- Anthony Pleasant > Keith Traylor, Dennis Owens, Brandon Mitchell (?)


Default Choices; not much competition for these uniform numbers:
#6 -- Ryan Allen (over Chris Hanson)
#10 -- Jabar Gaffney (maybe Jimmy Garoppolo can move #10 into another category in the future)
#19 -- Brandon LaFell (Brandon Tate, Tom Tupa; Malcolm Mitchell could take over as the best #19 by the time he signs a second contract)
#21 -- Malcolm Butler (Ricky Reynolds and 19 others have worn #21, but Butler is already far and away the best of the group)
#23 -- Ron Hall (over Horace Ivory)
#34 -- Chuck Shonta (over Prentice McCray, Sammy Morris, Ron Sellers)
#45 -- Otis Smith (over 15 JAGs)
#47 -- Robert Edwards; does #47 fall into the 'jinxed' category, like #17?
#69 -- Shaq Mason > Eugene Chung
#74 -- Shelby Jordan > Kyle Love
#88 -- Terry Glenn > Martellus Bennett
#92 -- Ted Washington > Ray Agnew, Ferric Collins
#94 -- Ty Warren > Chris Jones
#96 -- Brent Williams > Adalius Thomas, Mike Jones
#97 -- Jarvis Green > Alan Branch, Mark Wheeler
#99. -- Mike Wright > 16 JAGs


Numbers in dire need of a good player:
#2 -- Doug Flutie (over Mike Patrick)
#5 -- Shayne Graham (over Pat O'Neill)
#7 -- Hugh Millen (Chalie Gogolak, Michael Bishop)
#8 -- Josh Miller (Charlie Baumann)
#9 -- Four guys who combined to play a total of 13 games with the Pats. Bryan Wagner by default over two horrible kickers, David Posey (11/22) and Scott 'Missin' Sisson (14/26).
#13 -- RC Gamble? Tommy Hodson? Not Joey Galloway...
#17 -- Aaron Dobson or Mike Taliaferro? 13 players have done nothing with #17
#41 -- Larry Carwell, Leroy Mitchell; 18 players including Ray Ventrone, Cyrus Jones.
#43 -- Nate Ebner ... not good when a special team specialist is the best #43 ever; others include Vagas Ferguson, Ernest Gibson.
#46 -- James Develin (over Marv Cook and 11 others)
#49 -- 2-year LS Joe Cardona, or 1-year starting FS Ralph Anderson?
#66 -- LS Lonie Paxton over 2-year starting G Paul Fairchild