I hate to tell Cassius Marsh, but if you want to be consistently good and compete for championships, you can’t have fun in the NFL. It is called the No Fun League for a reason.
Winning comes at a price. Anyone who tells you otherwise, doesn’t understand the NFL. The fact that Marsh doesn’t think the Patriots “have fun” shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Belichick runs a tight ship. It is the price you pay as a player to play in New England.
The Patriots acquired Marsh in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks last spring. The eccentric Marsh was primarily a special teams player and a situational pass rusher in Seattle. When he was traded to New England, Marsh was expected to play special teams but to also take on a bigger role defensively. A role which Marsh was clearly not happy with. Marsh fancies himself as a pass rusher. He didn’t like the idea of dropping into coverage.
“They asked me to do a bunch of stuff that I had never done: covering running backs and receivers and basically almost never rushing the passer, which is what I did in playing defensive line,” Marsh said. “I confronted [Belichick] about all the things that were going on. I won’t get into detail, but it was B.S. things they were doing. I just wasn’t a fan. And so I, basically, without asking to get cut, I kind of asked to get cut.” (Interview courtesy of Eric Branch and the San Francisco Chronicle)
This reeks of a selfish player to me. A player who thinks they are better than they really are. Marsh was a four star recruit coming out of high school but he never lived up to the billing at UCLA. Between off the field issues and academic issues, he never quite performed to the level that was expected of him. With the Seahawks, he was a perfect fit in Pete Carroll’s culture. Carroll allowed Marsh to be himself and he defined his role for him with the team. Apparently Marsh didn’t like it when the Patriots asked him to do more within their scheme and be a team player.
Marsh isn’t the only former Patriot this off-season to talk about the Patriots win at all costs environment. Both Danny Amendola and Nate Solder said this off-season that playing in New England could be difficult at times. In the end however, both players defended Bill Belichick and the Patriot Way.
Sadly, Marsh’s criticism of the organization reinforces the perception that Belichick is a tyrant who mistreats his players and uses them until he deems them expendable. While that narrative fits the argument that Belichick is a cold hearted, impersonal dictator, it is foolish because that is how all coaches in all sports operate.
Marsh also addressed Patriots fans who attacked him on social media for his comments.
“I just want to address all you Patriots’ fans who don’t like this new article,” “I’m sorry to hurt your feelings, it seems to be breaking your hearts.”
“But if you can’t handle the truth, stay off my page. Don’t read articles,” “That’s how I felt. That’s how I still feel. And I’m grateful to be away from there, grateful to be where I’m at. And it helped me be grateful for where I was.” (Cassius Marsh Instagram)
It’s obvious Marsh is disgruntled and has an ax to grind with the Patriots. He should get in line however. Marsh isn’t the first former Patriot to complain and he won’t be the last.