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| Patriots deal Seymour to Oakland | 09.06.09 at 10:56 am ET |
Seymour won three Super Bowl rings with New England, and was a bedrock of its defensive front. (AP)
The Patriots have just announced they have traded Pro Bowl defensive lineman Richard Seymour to Oakland for a 2011 first-round draft choice.
Selected by New England in the first round of the 2001 draft, Seymour became the center of the New England defensive line. The 29-year-old went to the Pro Bowl five times, and was a part of six division championships, four conference titles and three Super Bowl crowns.
In eight seasons with the Patriots, Seymour started 105 of 111 games, totaling 460 total tackles, including 256 solo stops with 39 sacks. His 39 sacks rank 10th in franchise history, tied with Houston Antwine (1961-71) for sixth among all-time defensive linemen. He has also recorded two interceptions and six fumble recoveries. In 2004, Seymour scored his first career touchdown on a fumble recovery that he returned 68 yards in a 31-17 win over Buffalo (10/3/04). The fumble return is the longest in franchise history.
“From nearly the day he arrived in 2001, Richard Seymour established himself as one of our premier players for nearly a decade,” said Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick. “His presence has been felt as a force on the field, a respected man off it and a multi-year champion.
“Any transaction we make is with the goal of what is best for our team and, as difficult as it is to part ways with a player of Richard’s stature, many factors were taken into account when we considered this trade,” Belichick continued. “As an organization, we feel the trade with Oakland brings sufficient value and is in the long-term interest of the club. We are extremely grateful for the huge impact Richard’s elite level of performance had on our success and we wish him the very best during the rest of his career.”
Since this spring, the Patriots have made considerable changes, especially on the defensive side of the football. Seymour, along with veterans Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison, have all been traded or retired. In all, six defensive starters from last season — Seymour, Bruschi, Vrabel and Harrison, as well as cornerbacks Ellis Hobbs and Deltha O’Neal — are no longer with the team.
Prior to the Sunday trade of Seymour, the defensive lineman was one of only a handful of players in the New England locker room remaining who could boast of having been a part of all three Super Bowl championships. Now, only running back Kevin Faulk, quarterback Tom Brady and offensive linemen Matt Light and Stephen Neal can say they were a part of all three title teams.
“It’s definitely tough to replace a Rodney Harrison — maybe a future Hall of Famer,” Seymour recently told WEEI when asked about the possible leadership void in the New England locker room. “Mike Vrabel, he’s been one of the most consistent guys that we had here ever since I’ve been here. We both came in together in 2001. To lose guys like Mike and Rodney, that’s a tremendous loss for our team.
“But it creates another opportunity for some other guys to step up. Who are those guys are at this point? It’s still tough [to determine]. You really don’t know at this point, because guys are still working, guys are still making their own niche and finding their own way.”
While there are questions marks about the state of leadership in the Patriots’ locker room going forward, the move does free up some room under the salary cap for a team that still has a number of expiring contracts after the 2009 season. Seymour was scheduled to make $3.685 million this season — the last year of his contract — and would have likely commanded a sizable payday in the future. Nose tackle Vince Wilfork, defensive lineman Jarvis Green, offensive lineman Logan Mankins and kicker Stephen Gostkowski are all up at the end of this season, and all could stand to benefit from the team’s decision to send Seymour packing.
19 Comments for “Patriots deal Seymour to Oakland”
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September 6th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Great…a first round draft pick that won’t be playing this season OR next season either. Somebody better lock up the liquor cabinet down at Gillette -either that or Bobby Grier is back in charge again. So with Seymour’s salary off the cap sheet this year, does all of this automatically go to Vince’s bank account? The offense had better average 50 points this year because an already below average defense just bacame terrible. No Seymour, no Bruschi, no Vrabel, no Harrison - and they’ve replaced them with precisely what??? IN BILL WE TRUST has officially hit it’s expiration date.
September 6th, 2009 at 11:19 am
i do trust in bill we trust. As much as i dont want to admit it, seymour has not been the same player in 3 years. Bruschi had to retire, vrabel is 35 adn wont a factor anymore and harrison retired because of all his injuries. What are you talking about. for the future this is a great trade. seymour is making aton of money and is not producing for what he is getting paid. we get another 1st round pick and get to keep the most important player on our team besides brady (wilfork).
September 6th, 2009 at 11:20 am
losing seymour is huge but DL is probably the deepest position on the team. i think they can handle his loss this year, hopefully not at the cost of a super bowl though. there could be something else on the way, seeing as they now have a roster spot open. also, this was not a below average defense. they are alot deeper and better at DB this year, a lot younger and speedier at LB and i think jarvis green will do a decent job filling in for seymour. im worried about the LB depth more than anything. mayo or thomas go down and we’re in deep trouble.
September 6th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Never boring in Foxboro. Brilliant move to prepare for the future while winning today. They figured to be deep enough to compete on the D-line and now they do not need to worry about acrimonious contract negoatations with a guy on the back nine of his career. Nice going, BB!
September 6th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
DZ NBPT, are you serious? This is a good move (not great) for the future. Seymour has been on the decline for the past three years. Vrable had been on a precipitous decline, Harrison was half the player he was prior to his injuries and Bruschi had been a defensive liaility for the past three years. What has made the Patriots great is their ability to not to get caught up in nostalgia. They do better than most at recognizing when to let go (Lawyer Milloy, Ty Law, Damien Woody, Drew Bledsoe). In my opinion, Seymour has been overrated the past few years and was no longer “elite”. I’d much rather see the money due to him help keep Wilfork, Green, Mankins and Gostkowski around. Anyone else with me on this one?
September 6th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
completely with you mike. its a GREAT move for the future..not so great for now, however i think they can win it all with green taking his place. ive been shocked by people who said they’d prefer to keep seymour around than wilfork. wilfork is at least a top 5 nose in the league. green will do a more than respectable job filling in for seymour. seymour is still a very good player but no longer great imo. bruschi was too slow and obviously had nothing left. harrison was too slow and had become injury prone. the vrabel move makes me scratch my head a bit as i thought he had a good year left. i guess they’ll use the vrabel and seymour money in signing bonuses for wilfork, green, etc. i think dz nbpt has it all wrong as well. up until this move i think they’ve upgraded their defense. trading seymour for nothing this year obviously is a downgrade, but still a good move seeing they’ll get (hopefully) a great player for years to come in 2011, and maybe more if they trade down.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Seymour is better against the run than Green, but Green seems to be a better pass rusher, although he isn’t used to playing all the snaps of a game…but they still had the option of using franchise tags for both Wilfork and Seymour for the next year or two…but I agree that Seymour wasn’t elite (top 5 at your position), where as Wilfork is…the true value of this trade will be in who the Pats draft in the 2011 Draft…and don’t forget Brady needs a new deal soon as well…the only way an old team gets young is with draft picks, not free agents…
September 6th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Great deal for the future. It’s a risk reward with the Patriots…no secret that Seymour was probably gone at the end of this season. So with that being said once again Bill uses the value he has now to get better later. Seymour is in decline..can he have a good year or two, maybe but my guess is he will steaduly decline and now the Pats get most likely a top 10 pick, which they will trade for more quality picks or a big time player. It makes perfect sense!
September 6th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I have no problem with it….Seymour is always good to miss a few games with injury and he isn’t getting any younger. Not to mention he seems like the type who would try to BREAK THE BANK at contract time. They probably wouldn’t be able to re-sign him anyway. Now they got a 1st rounder for him……he’s missed time before and the Pats didn’t miss a beat with Jarvis Green in there…….bottomline, you just can’t keep EVERYBODY….alot of contracts are up (or almost up) including BRADY’S….somebody had to go
September 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Also keep in mind how dreadful the Raiders are plus the new standardized rookie pay scale set to take effect bye the 2011 draft, and the real brilliance of this move reveals itself: a possible #1 overall draft pick for bargain money relative to recent times.
September 6th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I love the trade to the Raiders, because they are just a disaster, so I’m not worrying about them improving much (opposed to trading him to a contender). However, its just sad to see the team that we have all watched for the last few years be disassembled piece by piece. It is kind of like the Sox, but they keep around the “nostalgic” pieces to long sometimes. And who knows, if the Raiders are as bad as they have been, we’ll grab a high first round pick and maybe draft an elite RB in a few years.
September 6th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Great move moving forward…2011 is a ways off but with how bad the raiders are its a def. top 10 pick. Peppers is still unhappy in Carolina, maybe flip the pick to them? who nows. whatever the reasoning behind this, wilfork or others, def. a solid move with limited impact this year. Ron Brace, Derrick Burgess, Jarvis Green, I think we are all set!!
September 6th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
If Seymour walked as a free agent the Pats would have received a compensatory pick in 2011, probably a 3rd rounder. So it comes down to not having Seymour on the team this year in exchange for moving up from about the 98-100th pick of 2011 to about the 10th pick in 2011. Very tough to stomach the trade right now in a season fans were hoping the Pats would go deep in the playoffs and perhaps make another Super Bowl run. The Pats probably won’t see much production out of that draft pick until 2012; would have preferred to see a bit more of an effort to winning this year, in my opinion.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Here some reasons: 1.) It’s def. a top 10 pic…. 2.) There’s dept at the position…. 3.) The pats have a lot of pics for the 2010 draft…. 4.) Take a good look on how the pats are setting themselves in case the agreement run over after this season , they have lots of pics next year and 2 first in 2011.
You got love Bill, he is always thinking ahead of everybody.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Yo da man mick! To the T!
September 6th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
What is Oakland thinking? The Raiders aren’t a playoff team this year, they lose Seymour after the season and perhaps they receive a compensatory third-round pick. For this, they give up a potential Top 10? Then again, they screw up most drafts, so they really don’t lose anything.
This is vintage Belichick. A few observations:
1. BB ain’t going anywhere for a while. A coach with a Super Bowl contender doesn’t trade a cornerstone player for a pick TWO years out unless he plans to stick around.
2. Pats aren’t likely to be a 4-3 team this year. Some 4-3, some 3-4, interchangeable seventh men (Burgess, Banta-Cain) will disguise looks.
3. Apparently Seymour was below Wilfork, Mankins and perhaps Gostkowski in the pecking order of looming free agents that the Pats wanted to keep. Given that, why not secure a great pick, free up some cash and use your depth to cover Seymour’s position.
Funny to hear some of the same people decry “loss of veteran leadership” who for the past several years implored the Pats to get younder on defense. You can’t keep the greybeards with their decling production for their leadership and simultaneously get younger.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
It’s great to read an intelligent comment. Wonderful observations concerning the trade. This is exactly what the Patriots were probably thinking. An Oakland Raiders #1 draft pick in 2011 when a rookie cap will probably be in place for a nine year defensive lineman is a no brainer.
September 6th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Another smart move by Belichick! Seymour’s trade value would never be higher than now and he is no longer a “franchise” type player. Furthermore, we have the depth to replace him now as well, and his salary cap money that was just freed up helps keep other key players like Wilfork around too.
The Raiders are not going to contend this year, so why they would burn off a first round pick to “win now” is insane. Seymour can simply sign elsewhere next offseason after he sees what a trainwreck Oakland is. Trades like this show why New England is a yearly contender and Oakland is a joke.
September 7th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
As I posted on BSMW, the naysayers need to be reminded that Seymour turns 30 next month, which means his best days are just about behind him. In a salary cap league, overpaying for past performance usually very quickly becomes a huge albatross. BB drafted Seymour with the 6th pick - the team got nearly 8 very productive seasons from him and BB flipped him for what will most likely be an even higher pick. What’s not to like? How, realistically, could this chapter have gone any better for the team? This isn’t candyland folks.