Tag: Ted Johnson

Patriots legend wanted Chip Kelly over Josh McDaniels as OC

Did the Patriots make the right choice?

Former New England Patriots linebacker and current NFL analyst Ted Johnson initially wanted Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly over Josh McDaniels as the Patriots offensive coordinator.

Kelly is coming off a national championship win with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Johnson believed that a coach like Kelly could have helped develop Drake Maye, who is set to enter a pivotal second season with the Patriots. He thinks Kelly’s background as a college coach would have been an important factor.

“When you talk about all the different styles of quarterbacks — there’s no more pocket quarterbacks,” said Johnson, as transcribed by NBC Sports Boston’s Darren Hartwell. “The best quarterbacks in the league right now are guys that are mobile, can move on the run, and you can create creative plays and game plans around because of their athletic ability.

“You mentioned Chip Kelly; to me, he’s a better option and I’d feel more comfortable with him being here than I would with Josh McDaniels.”

Along with serving as the offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes, Kelly had two major head coaching job stints with Oregon and UCLA. He’s an experienced college coach who would have been a unique option for the Patriots.

But they ultimately decided to go the familiar path with McDaniels coaching the offense.

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52 days till Patriots season opener: Every player to wear No. 52 for New England

Here’s a list of every Patriots player to wear the No. 52 jersey number

The New England Patriots are officially 52 days away from opening their 2023 regular season schedule at home against the visiting Philadelphia Eagles. So we’re celebrating the upcoming season with our ongoing countdown series that names every Patriots player that has ever worn a No. 52 jersey.

There have been multiple linebackers throughout franchise history that have cemented their legacy when wearing the number. Players such as Ted Johnson and Johnny Rembert even made All-Decade teams.

The most recent player to wear the number was former Patriots linebacker Harvey Langi. Rookie offensive lineman Jake Andrews also wore it during the spring practices.

Here’s every Patriots player that has ever worn the No. 52 throughout franchise history (via Pro Football Reference):

Former Patriots LB believes Bill Belichick is losing respect in locker room

Former Patriots linebacker believes Bill Belichick is losing respect in the locker room.

Former New England Patriots star linebacker Ted Johnson couldn’t believe his ears in regards to reports of Jack Jones talking back to coach Bill Belichick.

Jones reportedly talked back to Belichick after he allegedly failed to follow his injury rehab plans, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. Per the report, both Jones and Belichick did not see eye-to-eye, and Jones was suspended for the rest of the 2022 season. He last appeared in a game on December 12 against the Arizona Cardinals.

Johnson played for Belichick for five seasons and was shocked to hear about Jones being combative with the head coach. He explained why he believes times are changing in New England, when weighing in on the incident, as transcribed by NBC Sports Boston’s Darren Hartwell.

“That’s amazing,” said Johnson. “The ecosystem is so different now. That’s an amazing story to me. Like, you’re a rookie, and you’re going toe-to-toe with Bill in a meeting?

“He’s just lost some of his cache, it feels like. They don’t respect him the way they used to. And for rookies to be challenging Bill like that in front of everybody is unbelievable to me.”

The coaching staff was challenged quite a bit this season, most notably following the Thursday night matchup with the Buffalo Bills on December 3. Kendrick Bourne called out the offensive play-calling, as New England lost by a 24-10 margin.

Things need to change for New England in 2023 with the Patriots entering a crucial season. One has to wonder if the pushback will reach a boiling point.

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Former Patriots standout says team is ‘complicit in their own demise’

Are the Patriots headed off a cliff in 2022?

Sloppy, undisciplined and completely unorganized—this hasn’t looked anything like the same New England Patriots team people remember. Some are preaching patience, while others are calling it exactly what it is with less than two weeks away from the regular season-opener: a complete mess.

Count three-time Super Bowl champion and former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson among the latter.

Johnson was there when the “Patriot Way” was built and assembled from the ground up. He saw the pieces come together to form the greatest dynasty in NFL history.

But after seeing what they’ve suddenly morphed into, more than two years after Tom Brady announced he was taking his talents to Tampa Bay, is something unrecognizable.

“I think there is a feeling for people who’ve covered the Patriots for a long time, that they can’t believe what they are seeing from them so far,” Johnson posted on Twitter. “The way things played out in the last preseason game vs the Raiders, just confirmed what we’ve all been thinking and in some cases saying. It’s taking us all by surprise the Patriots would be so complicit in their own demise. In his first yr as HC Josh McDaniels team looks more like the Patriots than the Patriots do….unreal.”

McDaniels and his Las Vegas Raiders were by far the superior football team in the joint practices and preseason finale. They manhandled the Patriots on the field without playing many of their key starters.

Meanwhile, the Patriots put quarterback Mac Jones and the starting offense on the field and couldn’t get anything going. Well, they did have a potential passing touchdown to DeVante Parker that was ultimately negated by an offensive pass interference penalty.

Undisciplined.

It doesn’t help matters that there’s still no official offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator for the team ahead of its Week 1 matchup against the Miami Dolphins. It all runs through one man: Bill Belichick.

The 70-year-old de facto head coach, general manager, defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator has more roles than Eddie Murphy in “The Nutty Professor.”

And perhaps, nothing is nuttier right now than what one of the greatest franchises in all of sports might trot out on the field on September 11.

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Former Patriots LB Ted Johnson sees real potential in Patriots defense

Ted Johnson sees tremendous potential in the 2022 Patriots defense.

Former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson sees big things from the 2022 Patriots defense.

Johnson would know a thing or two about stellar defenses. He was a part of some of the legendary Patriots defenses in the early 2000s.

During his tenure with the team, he helped them win three Super Bowl rings, while playing alongside players such as Rodney Harrison, Willie McGinest and Ty Law.

“There has been some skepticism around what the current defense is going to look like. The Patriots have a lot of unknowns at both the linebacker and cornerback positions, and their depth is going to be tested at both spots, as they try to fill the void left by players such as J. C. Jackson and Dont’a Hightower.”

However, Johnson still has optimism despite the unknowns, as he said on Zolak & Bertrand on Wednesday.

There there are some things that are kind of just jumping out a little bit from what I’ve seen so far in training camp and the first two preseason games,” said Johnson. “And I will say this about this Patriots defense, I think at the end of the day Zo, that this defense is going to be a very smart defense. I think it’s going to be a very competitive defense, and I think it’s going to be an attacking defense.”

The Patriots may need to have a strong defense with each of their AFC East foes improving over this past offseason. If nothing else, a strong defense will help New England keep pace in what is quickly becoming a talented division.

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Ted Johnson on Mac Jones’ criticism of Patriots: ‘You’re a rookie, keep your mouth shut’

Ted Johnson also said: “My feeling is Bill Belichick probably had him say it.”

Mac Jones is going above and beyond what most rookies do in their first season with the New England Patriots both on and off the field.

Jones has helped the Patriots put together a 9-5 record after 15 weeks and he’s already a key voice of leadership. While he may be vocal in the locker room, he has been as uninteresting as quarterbacks can get when speaking with the media, likely on purpose. The Patriots seem to want to keep Jones out of the spotlight.

That’s why it surprised media members and fans to hear Jones criticize the Patriots, including himself, for a lackluster week of practice heading into a matchup with the Colts. Retired Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson isn’t sure how veterans will receive that criticism this week.

“When you’re a rookie quarterback, you’re not supposed to say stuff like that,” Johnson said on NBC10 Boston’s “Sports Sunday.”

Johnson did his best to consider what was happening behind the scenes. Did Jones decide to speak out? Or was there more going on?

“I was surprised by that because it was so off-script for Mac Jones,” Johnson said on “He’s always stuck to the script — cliché 101. This time he went off script and I was really surprised to hear him say that we were feeling sorry for ourselves. About what? You just came off a bye week. Is it because you played on a Monday night and then you had to play on a Saturday night? Get over it, boys. It’s ring-chasing time now. …

“And him saying they had a bad week of practice and that their energy level was low — you’re a rookie, keep your mouth shut. That’s not going to play well in the locker room. My feeling is Bill Belichick probably had him say it. I think Bill Belichick wanted the message to go through Mac Jones, call out his players. It would be atypical of Bill this year to come down really hard on this team. So, to me, that was some orders from Bill because I can’t imagine Mac Jones going off script like he did, criticizing the team’s energy and their preparation going into this week. When you’re a rookie quarterback, you’re not supposed to say stuff like that.”

It would be fitting if Belichick was behind this, pushing his young quarterback to take a vocal leadership role, one that he’s earned along the team’s so-far successful 2021 season. Belichick did, after all, echo what his quarterback said during an interview. It doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

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Here’s what rattled Patriots’ ‘ecosystem’, leading to N’Keal Harry trade request

“You can’t insult Bill Belichick worse than what N’Keal Harry did.”

The New England Patriots had an ecosystem that worked, and it worked for two decades with Tom Brady at the helm.

Since Brady’s departure last offseason, Bill Belichick hasn’t had the same control and pull that was apparent with Brady around. N’Keal Harry’s recent trade request is one of the biggest examples of this. Players don’t typically go public with their desire to leave the team and it’s possible that Brady’s influence was strong enough to prevent it.

While joining NBC Sports Boston’s “Boston Sports Tonight”, former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson explained what the difference is.

“I think the Patriots, quite honestly, have lost that thing that makes them the Patriots,” Johnson said. “You take Tom Brady out of New England and the entire ecosystem has been disrupted. When have you ever seen a player take on Bill Belichick that has not accomplished anything in this league, like N’Keal Harry is taking him on so publicly?”

After a 7-9 record and Brady winning a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Belichick quickly has to turn the ship around in 2021.

“You’re seeing things from players you’ve never seen before. You’re seeing Bill Belichick do things you’ve never seen Bill Belichick do,” Johnson said. “Why? Why all of a sudden now? It’s a totally different ecosystem now that Tom is gone. And you’re seeing things and behaviors out of Bill Belichick and out of players that you’ve never seen before.

“(Brady) was the guy that set the example for everyone else. Bill could puff out his chest, he could play hardball, because he knew he had Tom behind him to kind of cover his warts and make up for any decisions that he made. And so guys fell in line because you wanted to play for a winner, you wanted to play with Tom Brady, you wanted to win. And I just don’t think that same feeling is there for players in this organization.”

Time will tell if Harry’s request is one-of-a-kind, or if Patriots players will continue with this trend.

“You can’t insult Bill Belichick worse than what N’Keal Harry did,” Johnson said. “He basically just went up and spat in his face in front of everybody.”

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Ex-Patriots LB details negotiating a contract with ’emotionless machine’ Bill Belichick

It’s not easy.

Negotiating with Bill Belichick sounds uncomfortable.

The New England Patriots coach is notorious for getting a good deal when signing players to contracts. He gets his own players to take hometown discounts and, often, Belichick can convince out-of-house free agents to sign below their market value, because they get the opportunity to play for the Patriots, who are almost always in play for a Super Bowl. Having quarterback Tom Brady doesn’t hurt either.

Former Patriots linebackers Ted Johnson shared his experience about talking contracts with Belichick on NBC Sports Boston’s “Arbella Early Edition.”

“When I first was being coached by Bill and had my first kind of issue with my contract, Bill reached out to me personally which usually does not happen. I was like, ‘Woah, OK, I have an agent.’ He was like, ‘Yeah I was going to call him.’

“He wanted to gauge my interest and see how I reacted by him calling me. Bill will nickel and dime. There was a year that I had — I played 15 percent of the plays the year before, and he came to ask me for a pay cut. He said, ‘Well Ted, you only played 15 percent of the plays.’ ‘Yeah, Bill, did you know I broke my foot in Week 1 so I missed the next 10 games?’

“He doesn’t care about that stuff. So it is hardball, he doesn’t care, he will use the stats against you, and won’t factor in all the things that went into those poor stats. He’s not going to blow you away with an offer. He’s going to make you sweat it out and make you think, ‘Do I really want to leave what I’m comfortable with, or stay here and take less than what other people would offer?’”

That’s what Brady is managing.

Brady has always taken pay cuts to accommodate the Patriots’ needs. When New England needs to free up cap space, they generally restructure Brady’s deal. When the Patriots are signing Brady to an extension, his contract hasn’t typically fallen among the highest-paid players at his position. It seems, however, Brady is interested in getting more leverage this offseason when he’ll be an unrestricted free agent, and is reportedly ready to test the free agency market. Johnson offered his thoughts on Brady’s situation.

“And that may be the case here with Tom [Brady] where pride can get in the way. And so with Bill, he’s an emotionless machine, man. That was the kind of feeling I got from him that he takes emotion out of it and that’s why he’s as good as he is.”

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