Massarotti: Wilfork Split Stings, But It May Open Door For Bigger Things For Belichick
BOSTON (CBS) -- Vince Wilfork is gone, or so it seems, because there doesn't seem a need to read between the lines. Not when Wilfork already has come out and quashed any suggestion of a rift with a statement that sounds an awful lot like a Dear John letter.
I love you, Patriots fans, but it's over.
Here's the real question: where are the Patriots going with all of this?
Just weeks removed from a scintillating victory over the Seattle Seahawks that produced the fourth championship of the Bill Belichick Era, the Patriots offseason has begun with a rather unsettling feeling. Darrelle Revis and Devin McCourty remain unsigned – on McCourty, the Pats bypassed the franchise tag – and Wilfork is now a free agent. The easy thing would be to lump all of those together as some sort of mass exodus, but we all know that in the NFL, everything is connected.
Because Wilfork is gone, both Revis and McCourty might now be able to stay.
Let's make this clear, Pats fans: if the Patriots are cutting ties with Wilfork so that they can pay both Revis and McCourty, no one should so much as blink. Wilfork was a good Patriot. But he's not as important as either Revis or McCourty is to this defense anymore. In 2014, the Patriots secondary was the best it has been in arguably 10 years, and the result was New England's first Super Bowl title in essentially the same timeframe. That is not a coincidence. That is cause-and-effect.
For sure, this split with Wilfork feels very different than the one of a year ago, when Wilfork was recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon and the Patriots held all the leverage. That Vince didn't seem happy. The Pats were coming off a lopsided loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game. There were whispers of Wilfork's discontent with the organization before the sides settled on a restructured, incentive-laden deal that ultimately rewarded both the team and the player.
Wilfork got most of his money back – and the Pats won the Super Bowl without any consistent help from any other interior defensive lineman.
Win-win.
Still, the truth is that the NFL has changed, and you don't win with sandbags in the middle of the defensive line anymore -- no matter how loveable, no matter how loyal. At the start of the 2013 season, the Pats had significant money tied up in Wilfork, Logan Mankins and Jerod Mayo, all of whom were critical pieces in the run game. Now Mankins and Wilfork are gone and Mayo could be going, all at a time when the Patriots seem stronger from the outside in than they do from the inside out.
PHOTO GALLERY: Vince Wilfork Through The Years
Is there a chance Wilfork could re-sign? Certainly, though it hardly sounds it. In his statement, Wilfork said he would "think things through" and "see where life goes from here." He also said he has "lots of gas still left in the tank" and believes he can "still play football." That did not sound like a goodbye to football so much as it sounded like a farewell to the Patriots, the only team for whom he has ever played a down during his 11-year career.
On this story, again, what the Patriots do from here should shape your response. If Revis and McCourty walk out that door, too, there is simply no knowing what the Patriots will be up to next. Last spring, Belichick used the highest pick he has ever used on a quarterback, selecting Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round of the annual draft. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, that was the day the Patriots officially started the clock on the rest of Tom Brady's career.
By late September, with the Pats reeling from a 2-2 start, NFL insider Chris Mortensen was suggesting that the Patriots could transition from Brady to Garoppolo "sooner than later," which had less to with the 2014 season than it did with 2015 and beyond.
Since that time, of course, the Patriots righted the ship, went 13-1 in their next 14 meaningful games, losing only at Green Bay. They toppled the Seahawks in breathtaking fashion for the Super Bowl. But there is a transition coming in New England, one far bigger than Mankins or Wilfork, and we all know Belichick will carry out his plan, whatever it is, in as calculating a fashion as he does the final seconds of any half or game.
For Brady, too, the Dear John is eventually coming.
Here in Boston, during this unprecedented run of sports success, we long ago learned that sentimentality and loyalty do not win championships. As surely as Mankins went, so did Pedro Martinez … and Kevin Garnett … and Paul Pierce … and Tim Thomas. The list goes on and on. For the most part, we have survived all of those departures because there was always a succession plan in place, because there was always a different way to spend the money.
Belichick, too, undoubtedly has his plan.
Now we just need to see what it is.
Tony Massarotti co-hosts the Felger and Massarotti Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub weekdays from 2-6 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @TonyMassarotti. You can read more from Tony by clicking here.