By Kevin Stone/@kstone06/@newftbj
Recently, the Patriot announced that their 2020 Hall of Fame class would be announced soon, which always prompts some fiery discussion.
Mike Vrabel, Richard Seymour, Chuck Fairbanks, Fred Marion, Ron Burton and Bill Parcells are nominees who have been on the ballot previously, while Deion Branch, Russ Francis, Irving Fryar, Curtis Martin, Lawyer Milloy and Randy Moss are just a few of the many, many names who have not been on the ballot yet but will be in years to come.
The Patriots have decided to keep their HOF classes small, which is fine, except for the fact that a man like Bill Parcells continues to get passed over while players like Matt Light get in before him.
Don’t get me wrong, Matt Light was the model of consistency for many years here, but simply because of his ugly departure, Bill Parcells is being passed over time and time again for the Patriots HOF, when in reality if not for him the dynasty as we know it today may never have existed.
For me, the argument of why Parcells should be in is strictly team-building related. In 1993 Parcells went 5-11 with a franchise that went 2-14 the previous year under Dick MacPherson. That spring, his first draft pick as Patriots coach was Drew Bledsoe at number one overall. While he never won a title as the starter, it’s hard to argue with how important that coach-quarterback combination was at the time to start putting asses in the seats at Foxboro Stadium. Plus, what if he had taken Rick Mirer? This team may have won their titles in St. Louis or Hartford.
Chris Slade, Todd Rucci and Vincent Brisby all followed Bledsoe in that draft and all had significant impact on the early years in Parcells’ tenure here in New England. Some guy named Troy Brown was also an eighth-round pick that year, number 198 overall, pretty decent value wouldn’t you say?
Parcells went 10-6 his FIRST year at the helm, finishing second in the AFC East before losing to Belichick’s Browns in the 1994 AFC Wild Card round. The 1994 draft then produced Willie McGinest with the fourth overall pick. Admittedly, the rest of that draft is basically no names with the exception of Max Lane who was a viable offensive lineman, but, the 6-10 mark that followed was soon wiped away with a ridiculous draft class.
Ty Law, Ted Johnson and Curtis Martin were the three stars that Parcells grabbed in the 1995 draft, but Jimmy Hitchcock and Dave Wohlabaugh were also serviceable players for the Pats while here. Ty Law and Curtis Martin alone should put Parcells in the team HOF, but Ted Johnson was a one-of-a-kind linebacker at the time that was a force on the defense.
Prior to earning the team’s first Super Bowl berth since 1985, Parcells picked Terry Glenn, Lawyer Milloy, Tedy Bruschi, Heath Irwin and Chris Sullivan with his first five picks in the 1996 draft. Oh, and he signed some unknown, undrafted free agent kicker named Adam Vinatieri too.
Glenn eventually fizzled out early under Belichick, but for a period of time he and Bledsoe were one of the top QB-WR duos in the NFL. Meanwhile, Milloy and Bruschi became staples of winning teams here in New England while Vinatieri went on to become the greatest kicker in history.
We all know that his departure from New England – set up days if not weeks before the Super Bowl loss to Green Bay – wasn’t pretty and was relatively scummy – especially since he was leaving for the Jets – but in today’s NFL how many guys can you honestly say are perfect?
So, for the record, Bledsoe, Brown – who played a huge special teams role during that playoff run, especially in the AFC title game against Pittsburgh – McGinest, Law (pick six against the Rams), Milloy, Bruschi and Vinatieri were all enormously important to that 2001 team. In Vinatieri’s case he was literally the most vital part of that team’s chances during that amazing run.
Whether you loathe him for the way he left or not, it’s impossible to deny that Bill Parcells is the reason Bill Belichick was able to come into New England and do many of the things he’s done. Hell, Belichick’s first three draft picks with New England in the 2000 draft were Adrian Klemm, J.R. Redmond and Greg Randall. Yikes.
The Krafts can still be bitter all they want towards Parcells, but if you’re going to have a team Hall of Fame and not have the man who laid the ground work for a 20-plus year dynasty, then you can’t really call it a Hall of Fame.