

Randy Moss was not eligible for inclusion for the same reason. 11 on these rankings if there was one more spot available.īuoniconti was left out because of a technicality: He played more career games with the Dolphins (92) than he did with the Patriots (91). Aside from Jerry Rice (1,570), that was the most in the league that year.
#2005 new england patriots roster pro#
He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection, the most noteworthy of which came in 1986 when he had 1,491 receiving yards. In 13 seasons in New England, he racked up 10,352 receiving yards, nearly 2,500 more than the next-closest Patriot. It's an even tougher call to omit Morgan. But he was selected to only one Pro Bowl (2001), and the 12 non-peak years were nothing special. And Brown's three-year peak (2000-02) was excellent. Only Wes Welker (672) has more receptions with the Patriots than Brown (557). He spent his entire 15-year career with New England and is still the franchise leader in punt-return yards (2,625). But it's hard to be impressed by either one when juxtaposed with what Tom Brady has accomplished. Each threw for more than 25,000 yards and 165 touchdowns in New England -numbers on par with what Joe Namath and Troy Aikman did in their respective careers. He has been one of the most accurate kickers of all time.īoth fell outside the top 10, but if either one had made the cut, it would've been Gostkowski.įor many franchises, Grogan and Bledsoe would be near-locks for a spot in the top 10. Gostkowski is sitting at 87.4 percent during the regular season and 88.6 percent during the postseason, and he has been selected to four Pro Bowls. He was selected to two Pro Bowls over that span. Vinatieri made 81.9 percent of his regular-season field-goal attempts and 76.5 percent in the playoffs during his 10 seasons with New England. Those three incredible moments will never be forgotten in the greater Boston area. He forced overtime before kicking a game-winner in the "Tuck Game," and he drilled last-second kicks from more than 40 yards out to win both Super Bowl XXXVI and XXXVIII. Vinatieri is one of the best, most clutch kickers in NFL history. It's probably best to address Vinatieri and Gostkowski together, since they are just about the only players to have attempted a field goal for the Patriots since 1996. That latter qualifier forced us to exclude one Hall of Fame linebacker, who we'll briefly discuss in the honorable mentions.Īdam Vinatieri BRETT COOMER/Associated Press Also, only players who spent at least 50 percent of their careers with the Patriots were eligible. Two other quick notes: With all due respect to Bill Belichick, only players were considered. As for team success, we looked at whether the team clearly improved after acquiring the player. Tenure is included since a B-plus player for 11 seasons might be better than, say, seven years of an A-minus. Approximate value -Pro Football Reference's attempt to attach a value to everyone -allows us to compare players from different positions. The first two data points let us know how well each player stacked up against his peers at that time.

To do so, we considered five main factors: Pro Bowl nods, first-team All-Pro appearances, approximate value, length of tenure with the Patriots and team success while on the roster. While Brady's spot in the all-time Patriots rankings is obvious, filling out the top 10 isn't easy. Commercial reproduction, distribution or transmission of any part or parts of this website or any information contained therein by any means whatsoever without the prior written permission of the Club is not permitted.Tom Brady might be the greatest player in NFL history, but you can replace the "might be" with "unquestionably is" when looking for the best player ever to suit up for the New England Patriots. This website is the only official website of the New England Patriots and is © Copyright New England Patriots (the "Club").
