Many a thread and post have been made about our lack of success Post Brady. I find this distinction to be lacking as we are not only Post Brady, we are also Post Gronk, Edelman, Mason, McCourty, Chung, Thuney, Hightower, and James White. That is an immense talent drain to try and overcome in just a couple seasons and I feel distilling it down to "Post Brady" just doesn't highlight that nearly enough. I hereby declare we use Post BGEMMCTHW (that's pronounced bih-gem-chith-wuh) from here on out.
And whose fault is it that talent wasn't replaced?
Gronk left and Bill basically didn't figure out a way to get any production out of the position at all until he signed Hunter Henry. He just punted on the position 2019 and whiffed hard on two third round tight ends in 2020 who couldn't even get activated on game days when there was pretty much no one at the position.
Edelman wore down and retired like lots of receivers in their mid-30's except he is one of the few guys Bill actually had a suitable replacement to some extent. Meyers was a different type of receiver but slid into the slot receiver role and did well there. Of course we know what happened with him and March.
Shaq Mason is part of the complete mess at guard that Bill created the last few years. He franchised Thuney in a lost year in 2020 and cost us a 2021 comp pick. He then let Thuney walk in 2021, traded Mason in 2022, and completely bungled negotiations with Karras, and ended up reaching on a guard in the first round last year. The cherry on top is Strange isn't even good.
McCourty is in the Edelman category but doesn't seem to have a true replacement and for some reason Bill decided one of our better playmakers, Kyle Dugger, should play out of position in McCourty's free safety centerfield role which limits Dugger's impact. Luckily Peppers is playing well to help offset that.
Chung was adequately replaced with Dugger and now Peppers.
Thuney is part of the mess at guard with the Mason situation. Thuney will probably be an all-pro in KC this year.
Hightower is been replaced by Bentley for the most part. Bentley is a solid player but definitely a downgrade.
Post-James White era is like the post-Gronk era. Bill has apparently decided to just completely neglect the satellite back role. I guess in theory it was Ty Montgomery but he is a special teamer who never plays RB.
We lost good players due to retirement, trades, free agency, etc the same way any team would. Bill just didn't replace or adequately replace most of them. Bill used to always have guys waiting until the wheels started coming off. Matt Light to Solder then the wheels fell off with Wynn. Kevin Faulk, to Danny Woodhead, to Shane Vereen, to James White to no one. Troy Brown to Welker, to Edelman and Amendola, to Jakobi to no one. Some important positions on the roster Bill has missed badly or just ignored. It really is no surprise the roster is as bad as it is.
