FOXBOROUGH – There was a common theme among the four free agents that met the media and posed with jerseys for the first time on Thursday afternoon.
Respect and a desire to lead.
Carlton Davis, Robert Spillane, Morgan Moses and Milton Williams all took questions for about five minutes each following words from Robert Kraft, Eliot Wolf and Mike Vrabel and each of them talked about how much the Patriots made them a priority. Not just priorities, but identified them as leaders of men.
Sure, fans may think it’s guys playing lip service to the team, but money also talks and the Patriots gave these guys – and others that’ll be introduced on Friday – plenty of it.
Upon hearing that he had received the largest AAV contract in Patriots history – yes, more than Tom Brady made – Williams, smiled and shook his head.
“Yeah, that’s a blessing, man,” he said. “I just won the Super Bowl a couple weeks ago, so I thought that was the biggest day of my life, but this is probably going to jump that for sure, being the highest average salary or whatever, however you want to call it. That’s big, man.
“They believed in me. Obviously they studied me as a player and as a person. They know what I bring to the table, physicality, toughness, determination, and I thrive on people telling me I can’t do something. Bring it on.”
In Spillane’s case, he already played for Vrabel and knows what he’s getting himself into.
“I’ve known Coach Vrabel from a young age, from high school when he was a recruiter at Ohio State. I always admired his playing career and his coaching career,” said the newest linebacker. “When you get around a guy like Coach Vrabel, you really feel that intensity, you feel that passion. I like to say I fall into that same boat of intensity and passion and heart.
“I’ve gotten along with him great in Tennessee, and I can’t wait to continue to form that relationship.”
This was also a special day for Spillane, who had a similar one the first time Vrabel told him he had made the team back in 2018.
“I got hired on in 2018 on Mother’s Day and I got to call my mom in tears saying I’m going to be a professional football player. Today it’s her birthday, so I’m signing the contract on her birthday,” he added. “She’s a very important special woman in my life, and I just want to make her proud.”
Vrabel told a story about face-timing Moses during the negotiation and Moses’ kids were celebrating with some candy. Moses quickly told him that they’d be working it off out in the yard shortly thereafter. When asked to confirm or deny he quickly confirmed, highlighting the type of person the Patriots are bringing in.
“They know if I’ve got a workout they’ve got to pull their own pockets, too,” he said smiling. “It’s part of being in the family business. I try to raise men at home. I didn’t have that when I was growing up that much, so being able to give that to them is vital to my DNA. So being able to have boys and show them the way has always been in my DNA.”
As far as signing with New England, knowing he was wanted as a culture shifter was meaningful to Moses.
“You know, you don’t need a miracle to win football games,” he said. “You just need the right people in the building. Obviously with Coach Vrabel here, we’ve got the right people. Our owner is an amazing owner, and then obviously we’ve got the right people here. (Davis) won a Super Bowl; Milton just won a Super Bowl. They’re going to bring knowledge of the game on how to bring longevity through those weeks of week 18, 19, 20 when it hurts, when people want to tap out, how to keep going. It’s important for us to be able to learn from one another, and everybody has different qualities. Robert, he told — eight years in the league as a free agent without a tryout, and he comes in here and now he’s 140 tackles two years in a row. That doesn’t happen overnight. That’s preparation. That’s dawg. That’s brotherhood. That’s mentality. That’s somebody that comes in the building every day to learn.
“So guys are going to get around these guys and we’re going to talk football, we’re going to talk IQ, we’re going to talk brotherhood, we’re going to learn about each other on the field and off the field, so when we get on the field, nothing that comes at us — no adversity that touches us on the field is going to be able to break us, because we’re going to have an unbelievable bond. So when we run out of that tunnel on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, you’re going to see something different. You’re going to feel something different because we’re going to go out there as one unit and we’re going to play football together.”
Davis had the benefactor of learning from the greatest winner in franchise history, Tom Brady. As a teammate in Tampa, Davis may not have talked to Brady much, but learned an incredible amount.
“Man, Tom was a great guy. I was just telling somebody earlier today that I learned so much from him, and I didn’t even have too many conversations with him,” said Davis. “But, just how he carried himself, how he went about the game. He impacted us on the field and off the field in Tampa, just from not just how serious he took practice and how focused he was but also how diligent he was in his recovery, everything he did, still continued to be the same guy every day, taking care of his body. He would give us little tips on what to do and just how to be a professional and how to be successful in this league and in this game.
“I’m always thankful for having to share a locker room with him and having to win games and win a championship with him. I learned so much, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.”
Like the others, Davis felt like he could come here and get New England back to its winning ways, even if he was already in a great situation with Detroit.
“I would say me being a priority and also being able to come here and do something historical here in a historical place,” he added. “Like I said, I’ve always been a fan of (Vrabel), even down in Tennessee, and Big T (Terrell Williams) coming here and being a DC and just knowing how he was as a coach, understanding the room I was coming into, the talent I could play with and just the ability to be able to come somewhere and build something and come somewhere and start a legacy was big for me.
In Detroit I had a good run with them. I can’t lie; I had a good season with them. It was a lot of fun with those guys. But you know, ultimately I wanted to be somewhere where I felt like I was a priority, be somewhere where I felt like I could come here and build and I could be a leader — not to say I wasn’t a leader there, but I wanted to be somewhere that appreciated me and my family and made me feel welcome. Not to throw any shade because I know how ya’ll like to twist things up. I loved Detroit, I would never want to throw no shade to the 313. We had a great year. I know how this goes. But like I said, man, in this league there’s a short time here and you want to make it really efficient.
“And coming here, I understand the opportunity here. I understand it’s a rebuild. I understand that there’s great coaches here. You know, Detroit was a great thing going, but I feel like we have a great thing going here.”
Hopefully, there is. Mr. Kraft certainly already believes change is coming.
” I just personally — I’m very excited about what’s coming, and I’ve been told I should calm down,” he said with a laugh. “As we look ahead and we continue to build for the future, we’ve made some wonderful key additions to this team, and I’m happy to welcome them to the Patriot family. Actually looking forward to seeing the impact they’re going to have hopefully on game day. We are really committed to building a team which all of our fans can be proud of. I was saying to one of the players, I sat for the 30-odd years, I went to the four stadiums and came here in ’71. That was the first time I bought season tickets. Really appreciate how special this team is. I’ve been so honored to be able to buy an NFL team in my hometown, so I understand what the fans want.
“I’ll just tell you, I’m very excited about the people we’ve brought in here, and I just hope we really perform come when the season starts.”