Seeing Jakobi Meyers playing well for the raiders this year got me thinking of what recent moves are questionable looking back at the past five years. Hoping we can discuss/grade Belichick as our GM over the last few years when it comes to free agency.
Players that have performed well for other teams and should have kept: Joe Thuney, Shaq Mason, Jakobi Meyers, Johnnu Smith, Brandon Bolden? (this one is complicated, maybe more a discussion around coaching rather than GM). And the most obvious of all Tom Brady.
Which ones did we retain or brought in that moved the needle. I can only think of Judon really.
PS. if we believe the reports that Belichick wanted to replace Tom with Jimy G at the time this kinda ends the conversation about how crap he is as GM, but that was all speculation
Reading this thread, it occurs to me that Bill uses contract negotiations as a ridiculous evaluation of commitment to the “Patriot Way”. He got used to Brady taking team-friendly deals until the end. And when Brady wanted to get paid, instead of seeing that request as reasonable, he decided that it meant Brady was no longer committed to the Patriots. Bill believes that players who want to be paid what they are worth are no longer “team players” and he cuts them in order to prove that cheaper players will be more dedicated to the “Patriot Way”. Players are trading their future physical well-being for money. It’s nearly impossible to retire from the NFL without some long-term injury-related issues. They deserve to get paid, but Bill sees that desire as a betrayal and lack of dedication. It wasn’t just Brady’s talent that ruined Bill, it was Brady’s willingness to be underpaid. Now it seems like the final deciding factor for roster building is how little we can get away with paying players… as if there is a Lombardi for being cheapskates.