The Patriot Way: New England Patriots News, 7/26
By Cyrus Geller
Hello, and welcome to another edition of ‘The Patriot Way’, your number one source to New England Patriots news and analysis from around the web.
Exploring motivation for Patriots and Ryan Allen to strike early extension
"Why it works for Allen. Scheduled to earn $585,000 this season, the third-year player almost certainly gets some up-front money he wouldn’t have received otherwise. By cashing in now, he no longer assumes the risk of making it to restricted free agency next offseason or unrestricted free agency after the 2016 season, which is when he would have been in line for a new contract and has his greatest leverage, if still healthy and performing at a high level. But when a player cashes in early, he usually does so knowing that he could be leaving money on the table down the road."
Patriots announce initial dates of training camp
"The New England Patriots will open their annual training camp presented by Optum on Wed., July 29, when players report. The first scheduled practice will be on Thurs., July 30 at 9:15 a.m. on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. The daily practice schedule throughout training camp is tentative and subject to change."
Best of the Belichick Era: Number 3 — Teddy Bruschi
"My first year covering the Patriots was 1997. That was Tedy Bruschi’s second year. Tucked in a corner of the Foxboro Stadium locker room next to Chris Slade and Willie McGinest, Bruschi was reliably difficult every single time he was asked a question. Kinda smug. Really condescending. One day, after yet another fruitless pass by his locker, I said to him, “Everyone in the media thinks you’re an ass—-, but I think you just act that way and really could be good if you wanted to be.” He didn’t get “good” right away with us, but he got better. And by the time he retired, he’d become the Patriot most able to articulate what that experience of being a Patriot during this period was like. That was the thing about Bruschi. Few players I’ve covered developed more drastically on the field and off in the way he did. He came into the NFL with no definable role – an undersized defensive end who’d been a collegiate force at Arizona – and got swallowed up when he tried to engage hand-to-hand from the defensive line."