New England Patriots: 15 best free agent acquisitions of all-time
47. . LB. (2001-04). Roman Phifer. 7. player
- 3x Super Bowl champion (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX)
- 1,136 career tackles
- 29 career sacks
- 11 career interceptions
Add Roman Phifer’s name to the growing list of free agent stars the Patriots snagged from their division rivals.
Originally a member of the Rams for eight years (four in Los Angeles, four in St. Louis), Phifer was a starting linebacker for seven of those eight years with the team. His versatility is part of what made him so valuable to the franchise. He could play inside or outside, he could stop the run as well as defend the pass, he could drop back into coverage or rush the quarterback and so on.
While he never picked up more than 6.5 sacks in a season, Phifer was a tackling machine, and a veteran presence on a team going through a major transition in moving from the West Coast to the Midwest.
Nevertheless, the Rams allowed the New York Jets to swoop him out from under them in March 1999. Phifer was good but not great in two seasons with Gang Green, though he did manage to play in all 16 games both years.
When the team deemed it time to get younger at linebacker, the 33-year-old Phifer was released. Opportunistic even back then in 2001 during the “early days,” Belichick saw something he liked in the veteran out of UCLA, and signed him to a one-year veteran’s minimum contract of just over $500,000.
Phifer promptly delivered an exceptional season, helping spearhead a Patriots defense that stymied the “Greatest Show on Turf” in Super Bowl XXXVI. Interestingly enough, it was Phifer’s first team, the Rams, that the Patriots faced and ultimately beat for their very first championship.
New England must have seen enough in one season from Phifer to assume he still had gas in the tank, because they rewarded him with a three-year, $4.5 million contract extension.
In the end, he played out the extent of his contract and won two more Super Bowl rings with the Patriots before being released and then ultimately retiring in 2005.
Not nearly the household name that other Patriots defenders from that first dynasty went on to become, Phifer is certainly deserving of praise for his role in helping to secure those initial three championships, particularly the first one.