We are finally into the real NFL off-season. ‘No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks.’ Or, in this case, iPads, film sessions and demanding coaches. At least for a few weeks. But before we get you prepped with positional resets, I wanted to present to you the 25 best Patriots over the last 25 years. There are a handful of players on the list I wouldn't put in my good-guy Hall of Fame, but that’s not the point. The point is simply to name the top 25 players who wore the uniform and performed at a high level while here. I didn’t take a poll, though I did give my list to a few of my media brethren to make sure I didn’t forget anyone. I didn’t. Who’s better than me? Don’t answer that…
Today, I’ll kick off the list with players 21-25. Argue with each other. Go down memory lane. And don’t go looking for a certain tight end. He won’t be found. Enjoy.
25. Joe Thuney: If this list spanned all stops, the 2016 third-round pick would be much higher. But this is Patriot-specific, and Thuney was here for just his first five seasons and piled up a ton of accolades post-NE.
Thuney made an All-Pro team (2nd team) once. That happened back in 2019. That prompted Bill Belichick to slap the franchise tag on the guard, but he never agreed to a long-term deal and walked away following the 2020 campaign for Jack diddly squat. Nice job, Bill. I digress…
Thuney never missed a start, was a high-level pass protector - he allowed just 3 sacks in his final three years combined - and played a critical role in the Pats offense neutralizing the damn near unstoppable Aaron Donald en route to winning Super Bowl LIII (and won another ring with NE in 2016-17 over Atlanta)
"Joe’s done a great job for us," Belichick said of Thuney in 2018. "He’s one of our best players, one of our most consistent players."
The Chiefs and now the Bears would concur.
Thuney was a very pleasant kid, but did not want to talk football with the media. He would literally smile at you, make small talk, and then offer one-sentence clichés. Normally, this would anger me. It didn’t with Joe. It's just who he is. I wish he had taken on a more Logan Mankins-like attitude with the media as he matured as a player, but alas…
I think he’s bound for Canton, Ohio. We’ll see if the voters get that one right.
24. Drake Maye: Two years in, and yeah, he belongs on the list. His second-year leap was as good as any, ever (yeah, I said that). Finished second in NFL MVP voting, and while I don’t begrudge anyone for putting Matthew Stafford ahead of him, they wouldn’t have been wrong had they flipped the order.
Maye set the single-season franchise record for games with a QB Rating of 100 or higher with 13. Tom Brady had 12 in the 2010 season (he won MVP that year). His 72% completion rate was higher than Brady's best (68.9%). He also set a single-game mark by completing 21-of-23 vs. the Titans (91.3%). His performance led the bottom-of-the-basement Pats from 4-13 to 14-3. It was remarkable, right up until the playoff struggles. And even then, Maye made enough plays to get the team to the Super Bowl.
Now, what to do for an encore? I’ll tell you this: if Maye isn’t near the top of the list when his career is all said and done, I’d be surprised. They (Pats) would be, too.
23. James White: I went back and forth between White and Patriot Hall of Famer Kevin Faulk for days. I posed it to my media friends. All 3 of them. I actually went down a Faulk rabbit hole, wanting to make sure my favoring White wasn’t recency bias. Obviously, the league wasn’t nearly as pass-heavy when Faulk was playing, so this isn’t a numbers thing. Honestly, I was stumped. So I started asking coaches in the league about the two. Bottom line, White was someone whom opposing teams game-planned for. Faulk wasn’t. So while he was more productive in the run game, he wasn’t on White’s level as a receiver and, believe it or not, in pass protection.
On top of that, the Pats haven’t had too many players as clutch as White. He once had 15 receptions in a playoff game (vs. Chargers, 2019) and was absolutely on another level in the 28-3 comeback win over the Falcons in the Super Bowl. 14 receptions (SB record) for 110 yards and a TD. 29 yards rushing and two more scores, including the emotional game-winner. He also scored the game-tying two-pointer. All hail.
Oh, White had 87 catches (on 123 targets) in 2018 for 751 yards, and had 72 grabs a year later.
One final note: the 2014 4th-round pick was so easy to take down in his first training camp that the defensive players thought he stunk. They legit thought he was a bust. A “redshirt” year later, and White proved to be the perfect player in this offensive system.
In my experience, a great, great dude.
22. Matt Light: You protect Tom Brady’s blindside for as long as Light did, and you’re a no-brainer for this list. The only question was how high I would have him.
Played 155 regular-season games over the course of his 11-year career and added another 20 postseason games. Was part of three Super Bowl champions (’01, ‘03, and ‘04), a 16-0 team (2007, gulp), and the left tackle on a line that allowed just 16 sacks in 16 games (2009). Light was a one-time All-Pro (’07).
I actually think Light was a better run blocker than pass blocker. There was a certain nastiness to his game that played well alongside Mankins. But he also was nimble in pass pro, and while Jason Taylor and Dwight Freeney were handfuls for Light, they were for every other left tackle in football during that time as well.
Belichick thought Light was more right tackle than left tackle. Turns out, Light couldn’t make the transition from the position he played at Purdue, and that worked out well, I’d say.
“He’s had the model career and a lot of guys would love to have one like that,’’ Mankins told the Globe at Light’s retirement. “Guys usually follow guys that have been through it and lead by example. Everyone can see that Matt, he’s been through it. The way he carried himself and the way he played and the way he worked out and trained, it’s easy to look at someone like Matt and follow him.’’
Noted prankster (there are a million stories). Asked him a question once and couldn’t seem to land the plane. Light was smiling. I said, ‘Help a brother out.’ He put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Nope. You’re on your own.’
21. Troy Brown: If this were for the body of his career, Brown would be higher on the list. Hell, for the two seasons that put him on this list - 2001 and 2002 - there are arguments to be had for elevation. 101 catches for 1199 yards in ‘01, and another 18 for 253 in the playoffs. A year later, Brown put up 97 for 899. Throw in his return ability- and he played cornerback in 2004 - and you have a real difference-maker. If the Patriots needed a play, the former 8th-rounder (yep, 8 rounds back in the day) was usually up to the task.
"I think if you look where it started from, and how it started, a lot of people would be surprised that I made it 15 years with this team and this organization," Brown said at the time of his Pats Hall of Fame induction in 2012. "I just enjoyed working hard, grinding things out, sweating, going through the pain of weeks of hard labor. That's the way I was brought up."
Brown could write a book about the decline of the Pats, and in particular, that wide receiver room that someone I know said wasn’t very good (in his own way).