Tanguay talks about the players from the 1996 season. He mentions Charlie Armey who worked under Bill Parcells and how much of an impact that Armey had on the success of Belichick from 2000 to 2004, including losing to Belichick.
Tanguay wrote, "Troy Brown, Willie McGinest, Tedy Bruschi, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy and Ted Johnson were drafted between 1993 and 1996. Oh yeah, how about that undrafted free agent kicker Adam Vinatieri?
This crew was the Armey 7."
I have wrote in the past about whether or not there was one Patriots dynastys or two. In my previous article I noted that if it was one dynasty, then I would start the dynasty at the 1996 season because of the number of players carried over from that superbowl team and the short span between superbowl appearances. It was way more than just the seven players Tanguay listed.
Tanguay talks about players wanting to come to the Patriots to win a ring. Taking away from Bill Belichick as a general manager or at least he tried to. Yes, there were players that wanted to come to the Patriots to win a ring but it was Bill Belichick that decided which ones were worth signing. Not all general managers are capable of making the right signings.
Tanguay basically gave all credit to former Patriot draft picks success to Tom Brady. Taking away from not only Bill Belichick as a general manager but the coaching staff's ability to coach up the players.
Tanguay wrote, "Of course, Belichick did have some successful picks, but he never had the success in a four-year span like Armey. There was Richard Seymour, Logan Mankins, Rob Gronkowski, Devin McCourty and Joe Thuney over a period of twenty years. Sorry Julian Edelman fans - love the guy but he is a product of Brady. Same for Deion Branch, Dan Koppen and a list of other names you're about call out."
Some of what Tanguay wrote is the mentality of Patriots nation. How many times have we as a fanbase said "Belichick gets his players from walmart?" This is probably because Bill Belichick is so good at finding undrafted rookies and no name free agents.
I previously wrote an article that of the first three rounds over the past decade, Bill has had drafted maybe 4 or 5 elite players if like 35 tries prior to the 2021 draft. I said he drafted good players but not elite. Even Robert Kraft in this past offseason criticized Bill Belichick's ability to draft.
Kraft said, ""Really, the teams who draft well are the ones who will be consistently good. I don't feel like we've done the greatest job the last few years..." (I'll continue the rest of this sentence later.)
So Belichick isn't the greatest with the draft but he's far from the worst. He has his successes. Maybe some did play better because of Tom but they still did their jobs. Did Tanguay want them to play bad because Brady was on the roster?
It is true relying on free agency including the undrafted ones is not sustainable but Bill has shown a knack for doing it.
Kraft also said, "I do remember we always made fun of the teams that spent a lot in the offseason."
But Kraft also said, "and I really hope and believe I've seen a different approach this year."
Kraft's comments came from March. Since then the Patriots are playing much better than expected but it's been with a lot of help from rookies Mac Jones, Christian Barmore, and Rhamondre Stevenson. So maybe the changes that Kraft saw are going to improve Belichick's success in the draft. Either way, Belichick the GM has Belichick the coach to help him out and Belichick the coach knows what he needs on the roster to stay successful.
So to Mr. Gary Tanguay I have a message for you from Patriots nation:
"In Bill We Trust!"
No comments:
Post a Comment