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New England Patriots great Lawyer Milloy was an important piece of their championship defense in the early 2000s, but when he declined to take a pay cut with four years remaining on his contract, head coach Bill Belichick released the four-time Pro Bowl safety, and Milloy was left “disgusted” with the future Hall of Fame coach.
“I think I went to my fourth Pro Bowl in five years and then I was given an ultimatum: Either take a pay cut or leave it,” Milloy said on Monday on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria.”
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“That was up to discussion,” Milloy added. “I had good representation with Carl Poston and went the whole offseason — the last time I talked to Bill was in June right before the veteran (time) when you can go out and seek another team and we had a discussion. He said basically, ‘The worst-case scenario is you play out this year and we have to revisit it after the season.’
“So me and my representation were in agreement with that and the Friday after the last preseason game, he pulled me into the office and gives me the same ultimatum: I have until Monday to think about it. Guys get released or have these situations come up all the time, it was just the way he handled it, trying to wait until the Monday before the first game, which really disgusted me.”
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Milloy, a team captain, was set to earn $4.5 million that season. After his release, he immediately signed with the Buffalo Bills, and helped them shut out the Patriots, 31-0, in the season opener.
Belichick said Milloy was “the hardest player that I have had to release” and “the hardest situation that I’ve had to go through like this, here or anywhere else,” but it certainly wasn’t the first or last time Belichick made a decision like this. He traded away standout players like Richard Seymour and Chandler Jones, and most recently he let six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady leave to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after spending 20 years in New England.
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“It took me a while to even mention the Patriots the way it went down,” Milloy said. He added that he’s been welcomed back, “with open arms [by] Belichick.”
“I think he has changed over the years,” Milloy added. “He’s I guess willing to have the small-talk kind of conversations, he’s smiling a little bit more — maybe it is the young girlfriend he has now, but everything kind of lined up for me to go back.”
