Bill Belichick has 1 word to describe why it's difficult to lure free agents to Patriots

Bill Belichick managed with what he had when it came to winning six Super Bowl championships during his illustrious career with the New England Patriots.

Building the team through trades and the draft was more of Belichick’s forte. He drafted Richard Seymour, Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, got the most out of Troy Brown and Ty Law when he took the job and made the trade for Randy Moss and revitalized his career. 

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When the Patriots were active in free agency, they were able to sign guys like Cam Newton, Darrelle Revis, Rodney Harrison and Junior Seau. But as Belichick got further in his career, signing free agents became increasingly difficult. New head coach Jerod Mayo also learned that as he started as the team’s head coach, as they missed out on DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley.

Belichick chalked it up to Massachusetts’ high income tax.

"That’s Taxachusetts," Belichick said Monday in an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show." "Virtually every player, even the practice squad, even the minimum players are pretty close to $1 million. Once you hit the $1 million threshold, you pay more state tax in Massachusetts.

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"Just another thing you’ve got to contend with in negotiations up there. It’s not like Tennessee or Florida or Nevada. Some of these teams have no state income tax. You get hit pretty hard on that with the agents."

Also not helping the Patriots’ luster is the poor seasons in the post-Brady era.

The team has only made the playoffs once and have started four quarterbacks since the start of the 2020 season and are likely to have a fifth starter, whether it is Drake Maye, Joe Milton or Jacoby Brissett, to start Week 1 this season.

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