Is the “Patriot Way” Becoming a National Punchline?

For the past decade, the New England Patriots have not been bashful about letting the public know that they conduct their business in a much different way than every other team in the league conducts their own business. The “Patriot Way” claims to involve athletes who are good citizens on and off the field, players who make football their number-one priority, and teammates who would do anything to win, without any regard for personal statistics. Over the past few years, it has been made clear that this “Patriot Way” never really existed in the first place. The Patriots simply have the ability to take chances on players with red flags – it certainly helps that the Pats’ head coach and general manager, Bill Belichick, has the ultimate job security, a privilege that most other NFL coaches and GM’s do not have.

Nobody ever had a problem with New England acquiring Albert Haynesworth for a fifth round pick, getting Chad Johnson for a fifth and sixth round pick, or drafting Aaron Hernandez in the fourth round. The issue the general public has with the Patriots is that the team constantly boasts about how they stock their team with respectable, selfless players while they sign egotistical players at the same time. After the 2004 Super Bowl, Scott Pioli, the Director of Player Personnel for the Patriots, was asked about how to develop a winning formula. In the interview, Pioli said “A player’s makeup, his character, integrity, leadership — all those things are very tangible. And they have a say in how we try to build our football team.” If this philosophy held true, then why would New England draft Aaron Hernandez, a player that many teams took off their draft board completely? Many teams were concerned about Hernandez’s alleged gang involvement and marijuana use. If you’ve been watching the local news at all recently, it seems that these concerns may very well have been valid, and it could potentially cost Hernandez his NFL career. Hernandez recently signed a 5-year $40M contract extension, the most lucrative contract ever given to a tight end in league history. In a sport that doesn’t provide guaranteed contracts because of a weak players union, Hernandez may only be able to cash in on a small fraction of that contract if his career comes to a premature end…and only if he is lucky.

Another prime example of the Patriots’s misleading “Patriot Way” philosophy is the selection of Chad Jackson in the 2006 NFL draft. The Patriots selected Jackson in the second round at pick 36, even though he was a player who was supposed to be taken early in the first round. The reasoning for his slipping to New England’s grasp in the second round was due to concerns about his attitude and work ethic. The Patriots took a chance on Jackson because of his freakish physical talent despite every other team passing on him. Jackson only lasted on the team for two years catching a measly fourteen passes.

With all of this being said, New England shouldn’t necessarily stop taking red-flag players all together. The Patriots did, after all, have much success with Corey Dillon and Randy Moss, both of whom had career years in New England in their first years with the team. The Patriots should continue to sign or draft low-risk, high-reward players, but should stop trying to convince the public that they comprise their teams with obedient school boys. It’s okay to admit that some of these players are not model citizens. The most important part of their philosophy should be to always look for team leaders that have enough pull in the locker room so that even the “problem” players can be kept in line.

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