Darrelle Revis says he didn’t enjoy his time with the Patriots, but appreciates winning Super Bowl 49. In other words, the austerity was worth the success.
But what happens when the winning goes away?
Revis opened up about his experience playing for Bill Belichick on the “I AM ATHLETE” podcast. In it, the former star corner says he was not a fan of the environment in Foxborough.
“No, I did not [enjoy it],” Revis said. “I'm happy for the grind and the hustle of winning Super Bowl 49, but you know waking up every day and walking into the facility and having to deal with the tension, you see why they've been to 10 Super Bowls. You see the hustle and the grind of it, but at the end of the day, there's other philosophies to win and it doesn't have to be that way.”
Bingo. The Buccaneers won the Super Bowl after seceding control to Tom Brady; Pete Carroll’s loose style produced a championship team in Seattle; the Eagles defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl 52.
Last month, LeGarrette Blount, who won championships with both the Eagles and Patriots, said the atmospheres in New England and Philadelphia are starkly different. “It's like night and day,” he said. “Both teams have the same common goal, they just get there differently, you know? In Philly, the locker room was more relaxed, it was laid-back. … Right away, knowing the history of New England, I knew that once I got there I was either going to have to buy into that or I was going to have a long year of football.”
Former Eagle Cassius Marsh, who played nine games with the Patriots in 2017, said Belichick treats his players “like crap.”
You can get away with that when you play in eight straight AFC Championships. But the Patriots are 11-16 dating back to December 2019. They are now a losing football team.
Revis was the ultimate mercenary for New England, essentially taking a below market one-year deal (a second year was tacked on for cap purposes) to play here. As a longtime Jet, Revis probably knew Belichick’s style. But he was fine enduring Belichick for one season, because he knew he could rebuild his value, and possibly win a Super Bowl along the way.
That’s exactly what happened. That offseason, Revis signed a five-year deal with the Jets worth $39 million guaranteed. He was out of the league three years later.
But nowadays, signing with the Patriots doesn’t come with an automatic postseason ticket. That might be one of the reasons why Stephon Gilmore pushed them for a new deal. There’s no reason to take a discount to play for Belichick anymore.
The 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year was recently swapped for a future sixth-round pick. That's not good value, but it is the new reality.
Players aren’t happy with the grind if it doesn’t result in a Super Bowl. Belichick must adapt.