There have been some turbulent times at Gillette Stadium as a bizarre end to the 2017 season has led to an uncharacteristically strange offseason at One Patriot Place.
It was the winter of Patriots discontent.
It all started on Jan. 5 with Seth Wickersham’s lengthy piece in ESPN the Magazine entitled “For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, is this the beginning of the end?”
Telling the tale of a rift among the Patriots’ “Big Three” – team owner Robert Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady – much of it evolving around Brady’s personal trainer and business partner, Alex Guerrero – the story wondered if the NFL’s dynasty of the 21st century might be nearing an end.
Also at the heart of the matter, the chain of events the story alleged led to Jimmy Garoppolo’s departure (according to Wickersham, Kraft ordered Belichick to trade the heir apparent to Brady), which ultimately led to the backup, whom the team had groomed for 3 1/2 seasons, being shipped to San Francisco for just a second-round pick in next month’s draft, the deal leaving the Patriots with no successor to a QB who will turn 41 before the first pass of the 2018 regular season is thrown.
The team’s response to the story was swift – a joint statement from the owner, head coach and quarterback the morning it was published contending that “for the past 18 years, the three of us have enjoyed a very good and productive working relationship,” citing “multiple media reports that have speculated theories that are unsubstantiated, high exaggerated or flat out inaccurate” and stating that “it is unfortunate that there is even a need for us to respond to these fallacies.”
One month later, a development that was stranger than fiction, the stunning benching of cornerback Malcolm Butler, who’d participated in 97.8 percent of the team’s defensive snaps during the regular season, in Super Bowl LII, the move becoming all the more bizarre when Eric Rowe, Jordan Richards and Johnson Bademosi all struggled in the elevated roles the coach’s decision put them in, the defense completely overmatched in a 41-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles as the hero of Super Bowl XLIX sat idly by.
In the immediate aftermath of that loss, 28-year-old tight end Rob Gronkowski expressed a reluctance to commit to any sort of football future.
“I’m definitely going to look at my future,” Gronkowski, who’s fought through injuries to earn five Pro Bowl berths, told reporters after the game. “We’ll sit down in the next couple of weeks and see where I’m at.”
With rumors flying that he’s mulling careers in acting and/or professional wrestling, a series of cryptic messages from Gronkowski on social media followed, one simply reading “#clueless” that may (or may not) have been in response to a report by the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport earlier in the day that the tight end was expected to return.
Adding to the soap opera, the quarterback’s Facebook Watch series “Tom vs. Time” (since when were such productions part of the Patriots’ way?), the final episode including a comment from his wife that wasn’t exactly a happy ending.
“The last two years were very challenging for him in so many ways,” supermodel Gisele Bundchen said. “He tells me, ‘I love it so much and I just want to go to work and feel appreciated and have fun.’ ”
Then, free agency beckoned – and name players Nate Solder, Danny Amendola, Dion Lewis and Butler were quick to answer the calls from opposing teams, the first two leaving for the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins, respectively, the latter two packing their bags for Nashville, Tenn.
In the midst of all that, Gronkowski took to social media again, an Instagram post to Amendola urging the wide receiver to “Be FREE, be HAPPY” (yes, the words “FREE” and “HAPPY” were capitalized) to which Brady checked in with the message “well said gronk!!!!”
No one ever accused the employees at One Patriot Place of walking around humming “If You’re Happy,” but since when did it become the “Pit of Misery?”
Could it be that full-time Eagles offensive tackle and part-time Patriots critic Lane Johnson knew of what he spoke?
“I just think that ‘The Patriot Way’ is a fear-based organization,” Johnson asserted during an appearance on the ‘Pardon My Take’ podcast that followed his team’s Super Bowl win. “Obviously, do they win? Hell yes, they win. They’ve won for a long time. Do I think people enjoy and can say, ‘I had a lot of fun playing there?’ No, I don’t. That’s just the God’s honest truth.”
Johnson went on to add: “You only get to do this job one time, so let’s have fun while we’re doing it. Not to be reckless, but I’d much rather have fun and win a Super Bowl than be miserable and win five Super Bowls. But hey, it is what it is.”
One player who re-signed with the Patriots as an unrestricted free agent this past week, former Cincinnati Bengals special teamer-linebacker Marquis Flowers, doesn’t seem to have any problem with the way the operation is run at Gillette Stadium.
“5 Super Bowl wins is 5x more fun than 1,” Flowers tweeted in response to Johnson’s comments.
Fact is, while five players left as free agents – Bademosi following Solder, Amendola, Lewis and Butler out of town when he signed with Houston – seven have re-signed, although the names of Flowers, Brandon Bolden, Rex Burkhead, Matthew Slater, Nate Ebner, Brandon King and LaAdrian Waddle certainly don’t carry the same name power as Solder, Amendola, Lewis and Butler.
And if the reputation of the place truly is that bad, why were defensive end Adrian Clayborn, running back Jeremy Hill and offensive lineman Matt Tobin all willing to sign with the team as free agents?
To say nothing of the fact that after being acquired in a trade with Cleveland, cornerback Jason McCourty, whose family ties to the organization (twin brother Devin) give him an insight into it that outsiders wouldn’t normally have, said that, given the choice, his preference for a new place of employment would have been One Patriot Place.
Are there issues in Foxboro today?
At this point, it seems it would be foolish to think otherwise.
Some things never change, however.
On Thursday, the third day of spring, Bovada Sportsbook announced that at 5-1, the Patriots are favored to win Super Bowl LIII.
Perhaps now they can put their winter of discontent behind them.