Looking Back to the Future at the Big Moves of The Belichick-Kraft Era

There have been some great (dynamic?) duos in our time.

Batman and Robin. Cheech and Chong. Farley and Spade. Seth Rogen and Marijuana. Megan Fox and a warm day.

Even in football there have been quite a few in the past couple decades.

Montana and Rice. Peyton and Marvin. Owens and, well, himself.

But there may not have been a more prolific coupling of wills than Belichick and Kraft over the past decade.

Three Super Bowls, four AFC titles, records set in defense, records set in scoring.

It's been a hell of a ride for them. Mike Reiss of Boston.com has a great article looking back over their time together and why they've been so successful.

It's a fascinating read looking into the personalities of the two men who built a dynasty, nearly lost it to controversy, and came back stronger than ever.

But the key point to take away is how simple they make it sound.

It's about an attitude; a philosophy of thinking long term, maintaining flexibility (both financially and in terms of adaptability on and off the field), and trusting your instincts and colleagues.

Sounds easy, right?

Well, when you look over the decisions they've made together over the years, it's clear it's one thing thing to say you believe those things and another to actually back it up--especially when it comes time to say goodbye to some of your most beloved and productive players.

With that, let's look at some of the bigger moves the Belichick/Kraft duo has made in New England.

Most seemed questionable at the time and certainly kept WEEI in business with angry callers, but can you argue with results?

Let's look, and see what it means for some soon-to-be free agents in New England.

1. The Trading Block: Deion Branch and Tebucky Jones

In 2003 the Patriots had one of the young, athletic studs at Safety in Tebucky Jones. A first-round pick by the Patriots in 1998, Jones' contract was up following the 2002 season.

To protect his rights, the Patriots dropped the franchise tag hammer on him, a designation that would've cost them $3 million that year and left him a free agent the following year.

But with the league's highest-paid safety and team captain Lawyer Milloy already on the books, the Patriots found themselves with a whole lot of safety and not enough cap room.

So the Patriots did what other teams might have not done: franchised and then flipped their 29-year old starting safety, who helped them win Super Bowl XXXVI, for three draft picks.

As it turns out, that wasn't the only bold move the Patriots made at safety that Summer. More on that in a bit.

Three years later, though, the Patriots found themselves on the other side of the coin.

New England, once again, refused to commit too much money to a position (and a player) they felt wouldn't earn it, in Deion Branch.

In 2006, Branch was offered a contract extension by the Patriots, a four-year deal that would've paid him his salaries of approximately $1 million, $1.5 million, $4.3 million, and $4.79 million from 2006-2009.

It's the type of backloaded contract that teams give to guys who haven't quite proven their worth, who the team can then cut with little cap repercussions after a year or two if the player doesn't improve.

In short, Branch felt it was a bit of an insult to offer a Super Bowl MVP.

For a guy who was two yards short of 1,000 in his best season, Branch was aiming high, though, asking for the type of contract that Reggie Wayne got with the Colts (6 year at $40 million), a deal he was never really going to earn, even as the number one receiver on a team with Tom Brady.

So Branch started his awkward, protracted holdout that extended deep into August.

With seemingly everyone, Tom Brady included, pleading with the Patriots to just sign Branch so they could have some hope of making it back, the front office and Belichick held fast.

The Patriots bucked what seemed like fair logic and the wishes of their superstar quarterback and traded Branch to Seattle, where he has (mostly due to injuries) had just 1798 yards and 12 TDs in three years.

Bold moves that, in retrospect, paid off.

2. Marching Orders: Ty Law and Lawyer Milloy

In 2003, fresh off of the sign-and-trade salary dump of Tebucky Jones, the Patriots were looking to dump more by getting Lawyer Milloy—the three-year team captain and probably the most popular player on New England's defense—to renegotiate his league-high salary.

Milloy agreed, in principle, but the Patriots and Milloy were never really close on a figure heading into the season.

So Belichick and the Patriots made the kind of move that most teams balk on but never actually deliver: they cut Milloy five days before the start of the season.

They had tried to renegotiate with the 29-year-old Milloy since April of that year, but seeing themselves at an impasse and having signed Rodney Harrison, they up and cut the team captain.

As I recall, this move generated as much heat for the Patriots in New England as Spygate did for them in the rest of the country.

There was a collective "They did WHAT?!" echoing up and down 495 that day, along with a few other four-letter words.

In the locker room the move was questioned, as well. Per ESPN NFL writer John Clayton's report at the time:

"Has it ever been this quiet in here? I don't think it has," linebacker Tedy Bruschi, Milloy's rookie roommate in 1996, said. "I think 'shocked' is the word. ... You sort of just shake your head and ask yourself, 'Why?' "

"It is scary in the timing," cornerback Ty Law said. "There's such a thing as good business and bad business. I don't know what category this one falls under. But to my eyes, and being selfish, at this late in the game and in regard to him and his family, I'm quite sure this is something that could have been done a long time ago."

If you're familiar with the club and the usual party line that players only ever give the media, this is about as close as a "The coach and office are out of their flipping minds" comment you'll ever see from Patriots players.

It only got worse for Belichick and co. when, five days later, the Buffalo Bills trounced them 31-0 upstate with a spirited performance by their brand new starting safety: Lawyer Milloy.

So what did the Patriots get after dumping their two starting safeties? In moves panned as pure salary dumps by a team content to just win one Super Bowl and slide back to mediocrity rather than pay the guys that got them there?

They ended 2003 with the league's best scoring defense, allowing a league-low 238 points, winning 14 games and walked all over Buffalo in week 17 by the familiar score of 31-0.

Oh, and they won a Super Bowl, too.

In the Spring of 2005, Ty Law was 30, coming off an injury-shortened season where he had just one interception in seven games.

Yet he was viewed as a valuable asset that, on the backside of his career, could still be useful in most sets as one of the best big-play cornerbacks in the league.

Unfortunately for Law, that asset wasn't worth $12 million, his ludicrous cap number for the 2005 season.

Law signed the contract originally as part of a seven-year extension in 1999.

Plenty of contracts in the NFL have these sort of insane salary years stapled on the end so teams can go to the media and say "look here, we've signed him to a 9-year, $86 million contract!" when they've really signed the guy for, at most, three years at $5 million a year and then they'll just cut him before the big years kick in.

But Law's cap number should've never been allowed to escalate that high, and it's not known how much of an effort the Patriots made to renegotiate, releasing him in mid-February.

As a three-time Pro Bowler and one of the league's best cornerbacks, even at 30, he would've commanded close to $7 million a year for, likely, four or more years—an amount the Patriots weren't willing to pay.

He signed with the Jets and managed a career-high 10 interceptions and a fourth Pro Bowl selection the following year.

As Belichick said about the release of Milloy and could've repeated about this move, Law was simply a "victim of the system."

The Law move really could've gone either way. I don't think anybody thought he couldn't do the job anymore, but the question was what kind of contract he would demand. 

They were simply never going to eat nearly 15 percent of their total salary cap (the cap number for that season was $85.5 million total) on one player who didn't have "Brady" on the back of his jersey.

Cutting him was inevitable without a renegotiation, which they were unable or unwilling to do.

In the end, the Jets were just willing to commit a lot more money to Law than the Patriots.

3. Free Agents Are Anything But Free: Willie McGinest and Asante Samuel

Willie McGinest was one of those moves that I don't think opened a ton of eyes when it happened.

He was a free agent, and I think most people thought that the career sack leader in the postseason, at 34 years old, would simply retire a Patriot.

But looking back at it (not trying to make a controversy out of nothing, as there was some noise when he signed with Cleveland), the Patriots maybe should've looked at him a little closer.

Despite being 34, he was clearly a good Irish boy who had been one of the most versatile pass rushers in league history, playing at both ends and both outside linebacker spots in his 12-year career with New England.

He was still an effective pass rusher, racking up another six sacks in 2005 with 44 tackles, in line with his career averages.

He eventually signed with Cleveland, putting off retirement for a few years to play for his old coach Romeo Crennel. Even with little help in Cleveland's defense, among the league's worst, he managed another four sacks in 2006 before falling off in the years following.

Could Belichick have kept him on as year-to-year depth at linebacker? Given his apparent love of older linebackers in the last few years, it's certainly plausible. But it wasn't to be.

Asante Samuel being allowed to walk did open a lot of eyes, however.

He was slapped with the franchise tag in 2007 on the condition that it would not be applied in 2008 if he played in 60% of defensive snaps or the Patriots won 12 games.

Instead of negotiating a lucrative extension for a player that was becoming one of the best shutdown corners in the league, the Patriots may have burned their bridge to Samuel by locking him down with the franchise tag.

Players hate the franchise tag because, in a rough-and-tumble league where it's very easy to tear, blow out, break, strain, or otherwise destroy some body part (along with your value), playing one year without a safety net or a big signing bonus is a huge risk.

Couple that with the fact that you get franchised right at the time that, usually, you're supposed to cash in with a huge contract and it's easy to see why players get miffed at it.

So Asante was a little unhappy with the designation.

This was an ugly breakup, to say the least, with talk that Samuel would only show up to play a little more than half way through the season, earn his year of service, and hit the bricks and never look back.

The Patriots obviously felt he was worth the money with Samuel tying Champ Bailey for the league lead in interceptions the previous season with 10, despite being overlooked for the Pro Bowl.

Yet, the Patriots didn't want to commit the type of money a player of Samuel's caliber commands in the open market (something in the vacinity of the $56 million over six years with $20 million guaranteed the Eagles gave him).

Still, they could've saved money by signing him to an extension in 2007 rather than franchising him. The way the salaries in the league escalate, I think it was pretty apparent that $45-50 million over 6 years would've gotten the job done.

For example, look at the contract extension the raiders just gave Nnamdi "My Spellchecker Just Blew Up" Asomugha: a minimum of $45 million over three years, with the first two years—worth nearly $30 million—completely guaranteed.

At that kind of money, Samuel would've been a bargain, having dominated in his franchised year of 2007, earned his first Pro Bowl nod, and nearly sealed the Super Bowl against the Giants with an extremely rare dropped interception.

But the Patriots have gotten where they are not by following the crowd and escalating with the rest of the league, but by doing what makes sense for them. 

Still, locking up one of the league's best cornerbacks, at just 26 years old, for six years at $8 million per year, certainly would've been nice for New England.

They instead concocted the "we won't do it again in 2008, we promise" deal they eventually worked out with Samuel, had an unbeaten regular season, then bid adieu to arguably the best Patriot cornerback ever.

Those Yet to Come: 2010 Free Agents Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork, Jarvis Green, Logan Mankins, Kevin Faulk, Stephen Neal, Stephen Gostkowski, Ben Watson, Nick Kaczur, etc.

If you're thinking, "That's a lot of starters," well, you're right.

The three biggest names on this list are arguably DT/NT Vince Wilfork, RDE Richard Seymour, and G Logan Mankins.

The anchors of the defensive line and an All-Pro Guard in Mankins, the Patriots will have to probably part ways with at least one of those players.

At a combined bulk of 942 pounds and seven Pro Bowls at an average age of just 27, they're worth their weight in free-agent gold.

Seymour has struggled with injury in recent years, missing four games in 2005 and seven in 2007. He came back with a vengeance last year, recording eight sacks in 15 games, his best statistical season since 2003.

Seymour has been around and dominant for so long he seems like he must be 31 or 32 by now but he's still just 29 (will be 30 in October) and already has five Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro selections to his name.

Certainly with this being a contract year, you'd look for him to have a season equivalent to what he managed this past year, assuming he stays healthy.

With that kind of performance, though, it's likely he'll command a huge contract extension. With more teams moving to 3-4 he's the ideal size for a two-gap blindside defensive end while still maintaining an explosive burst to the pass rusher.

His play had fallen off somewhat in the past couple years but the time out from injury seems to have sparked whatever it was that he lost and he looks like, once again, one of the best pass-rushing ends in the game.

Vince Wilfork, as well, is one of the best at his position in the game.

At just 27 (28 in November), he's got his best years ahead of him, but has been rewarded with just one Pro Bowl, this past season.

It's tough going for any DT/NT playing the 3-4, though.

You have to soak up double teams and usually cover two gaps while maintaining a physical base and anchoring your line at the 0-technique (over the center) so you can stop the run.

It's arguably the most essential position for a successful 3-4 and it's why players like Boston College's B.J. Raji, the ideal body type for the position (minus the short arms) who models his play after Wilfork, end up as top-10 picks in the draft.

Still, on Pro Bowl ballots these guys have to compete with guys like Albert Haynesworth who, as a DT in the 4-3, is able to rack up better stats because they don't have to deal with as many double teams and can compress the pocket more, getting more sacks.

Wilfork is in on every defensive down though, putting in more time for less exposure (and less money) to casual fans.

It has gotten better though, as both Wilfork and Steelers NT Casey Hampton (injury replacement) made the Pro Bowl this season (Hampton's fourth selection) primarily playing out of the 3-4, opening up lanes to the QB for their Pro Bowl teammates Mike Vrabel and James Harrison.

Because, in the words of Wolverine (I need a drink after this reference): "I'm the best at what I do but what I do isn't very nice."

It's why when you look at NFL.com's Pro Bowl roster page for 2008 you get a fun little "highlight" button after pretty much everyone's name.

Well, pretty much everyone but Wilfork, the offensive linemen, and the kickers. (And, for some reason, Champ Bailey? This is what happens when nobody throws your way, Champ.)

Either way, the Patriots would be mad to let him walk, right?

The Patriots drafted three DTs this year, including Raji's teammate Ron Brace in the second round. Unless Belichick is thinking of switching to the 4-3, that's a lot of guys to play one position with a 27-year old Pro Bowler as the incumbent.

Unless that guy's going to walk.

And given the long history they have with letting popular, productive players walk, even when they're in their prime, I wouldn't be surprised if they do let a guy like Wilfork walk rather than pay him big-time DT money.

The Patriots could franchise Wilfork and re-sign Seymour, which wouldn't lock up too much money, but if Wilfork's franchise tender is based off of DT money, it pays him based on contracts given to guys like Haynesworth rather than guys like Hampton.

Then, if Wilfork walks after 2010, they could have several guys, Brace included, ready to fill that spot.

While the salary cap escalates, again, to $128 million next year and there's a really solid chance there won't be a salary cap in 2010, the Patriots do have to watch their cap room.

They have to, not because re-signing both Seymour and Wilfork to free agent contracts will leave them with little room to make moves next offseason (even though it would), but because of the contracts that are up after 2010:

QB, Thomas Brady.

LT, Matthew Light.

RB, Lawrence Maroney.

Yikes.

That'll certainly put Belichick and Kraft's system to the test.