Top 10: Patriots best free agent signings of last 10 years
Throughout the twenty years of the Patriots’ dynasty, we saw many phenomenal talents emerge from Gillette Stadium.
Although most of the bad signings by Bill Belichick during that time seem to overshadow all the good ones, there were a lot of significant contributors to the latter half of the dynasty’s success, including some under-the-radar names that didn’t receive as much recognition.
(and there may actually be 11 players listed instead of 10, but who’s counting?)
Danny Amendola – 2013
stats while on the Patriots
- Two-time Super Bowl champion (XLIX, LI)
- New England Patriots All-2010s Team
- 69 regular season games – 230 rec, 2,383 yards, 12 TD, 1/1 passes for 36 yards
- 13 postseason games – 57 rec, 709 yards, 12.4 Y/R, 6 TD, 1/2 passes for 20 yards
It’s almost hard to imagine a Patriots team in the 2010s that didn’t have Danny Amendola on it, but he was with the Rams to start his career and didn’t sign with New England until the 2013 season.
Throughout his five years spent in Foxboro, Amendola earned the trust of Tom Brady and easily became one of his favorite targets. The duo of Amendola and Julian Edelman in the Patriots’ offense was always exciting to watch, even if they weren’t ever considered to be at the top of their position.
Who could forget the fantastic Edelman pass to Amendola’s touchdown against the Ravens in 2014?
He was a solid contributor during regular season games but came alive once the postseason began, which earned him the nickname “Danny Playoffs.” His reliability and consistency resulted in countless impressive performances in those extra games, especially in Super Bowl LI and the entire postseason run leading up to Super Bowl LII.