New England Patriots: Bill Belichick happy for players who got big deals

The New England Patriots lost a lot of key players this offseason. However, Bill Belichick is happy for them all.

Coming into the offseason, the New England Patriots were going to have a hard time keeping all of their key free agents. Without a ton of cap space, the Patriots knew they were going to have to make some tough choices about their players.

However, possibly to the surprise of some, the Patriots ended up losing arguably their four best free agents. The Tennessee Titans were extremely aggressive this offseason when it came to pursuing former Patriots, as they added both Dion Lewis and Malcolm Butler.

Seeing those two players leave wasn’t too shocking, as Butler’s future with the Patriots was clearly in doubt after the Super Bowl. In addition to those two players signing with the Titans, the Patriots then saw Danny Amendola sign with the Miami Dolphins.

Amendola has been a key player for the Patriots in the clutch, but the Dolphins gave him a contract worth $12 million for the next two seasons. Even though Amendola is a trusted receiver of Tom Brady, the Patriots weren’t going to offer him that kind of money.

What may have been the most surprising departure for the Patriots was Nate Solder leaving for the New York Giants. Once free agency started, Solder became a hot commodity as a left tackle, and the Giants made him a very rich man with a deal worth slightly over $15 million per season.

Recently, Bill Belichick talked about the players that he lost in free agency. Here’s what he had to say via the Providence Journal.

"“Malcolm, Dion, Nate, Danny, all of them. Those people worked hard,” Belichick said, via the Providence Journal. “They competed well. They performed well. They signed contracts that were better than what we were able to give them. They all did a great job for us. We wouldn’t have had the success we had without the contributions of those, and many other players.”"

Even though the Patriots have suffered some losses in free agency, they were also able to add some good players this offseason. On the defensive side of the ball, they made some much-needed upgrades to their defensive line.

Next: Grading recent free agency signings

One of the things that make the Patriots a good franchise is that they very rarely overpay players. Seeing some of the contracts that their free agents received this offseason, it was clear that the Patriots were not willing to break the bank for any of them.