Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots celebrates after a play against the New York Jets

The New England Patriots have had a resurgence since the early 2000s, winning three Super Bowls and making the playoff in nine out of the past twelve seasons.

The Patriots were first founded all the way back in 1959 and played in the American Football League until 1970 when they joined the National Football League and have remained there ever since.  In 2007 the team nearly completed a perfect season, going 18-0 before losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.  Bill Belichick has been one of the most successful coaches in NFL history to date with a postseason record of 17-7 going into the 2012 season.  With that said, who are some of the top players in franchise history?  What follows are the top five players in New England Patriots history, in no particular order.

Tom Brady
Tom Brady has played a major part in New England’s success starting in the early 2000s, and was surprisingly selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft in 2000 by the Patriots.  Since that time Brady has remained as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, with three Super Bowl victories to go with two Super Bowl MVP awards, seven selections to the Pro Bowl, and has nearly 40,000 passing yards in his career to go along with 300 touchdowns and a quarterback rating of nearly 100, all incredible feats.

Sam Cunningham
Sam Cunningham was first drafted by the Patriots as a running back in the first round of the 1973 NFL Draft, and played in nine productive seasons with the team.  Cunningham totaled nearly 50 touchdowns over his career, and his best season came in 1977 when he rushed for over 1,000 yards and another 370 in the air to go with five total touchdowns on the year.

Stanley Morgan
Morgan was one of the best wide receivers in New England Patriots’ history.  He was selected in the first round of the 1977 NFL Draft and played a total of 12 seasons with the team.  Stanley’s best season came in 1986 with the Patriots, when he had 1,491 total yards to go with 10 touchdowns for the year.  He was selected to four Pro Bowls over his career, with all of them coming as a member of the Patriots.

John Hannah
John Hannah was drafted in the first round of the 1973 draft as an offensive lineman for New England, and went on to have a stellar career with the team until his retirement in 1985.  He was selected to nine Pro Bowls over the course of his career along with ten All-Pro selections.  His number 73 is retired by the team, and Hannah was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.

Troy Brown
Along with Tom Brady, Troy Brown played an integral role for the Patriots during their dominance of the 2000s, and was first drafted by the team in 1993 as an eighth round picked.  Brown played with the Patriots for his entire career, lasting until 2007, and played numerous positions including wide receiver, punt returner, cornerback, and many more.  His best season came in 2001 when he had 1,199 yards as a receiver and five touchdowns as well.

Thanks to All Arena Seats

Speaking at his Old Spice Wes Welker Football Clinic this morning at Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, he said he was excited about returning for another season and that he intends to be with his teammates Monday for the start of an OTA session at Gillette Stadium.

He also said he used “a poor choice” of words when describing his decision to sign his franchise tender as a “leap of faith,” as he did in a tweet, and again when he indicated his negotiations for a long-term deal “had gotten worse,” which he told the Boston Herald a couple of days ago.

The week began with Welker making an appearance on Sports Radio WEEI in Boston to promote his camp when he indicated that he had “nine and half million reasons not to” holdout from any offseason activities. A day later he made it official and signed his franchise tender, all but ensuring his inclusion on the 2012 Patriots.

Then he spoke with the Herald’s Karen Guregian later in the week and said the contract negotiations “had gotten worse” and things didn’t seem to be progressing toward a long-term deal. He seemed to backtrack off those statements on Saturday, saying he was “completely happy with [being franchised] and completely OK with it. I look forward to contributing to the team.”

“I’m not frustrated whatsoever. I know the words that came out probably seemed that way but I’m not frustrated at all. I’m making five times what I did last year so there’s no frustration here. I’m totally content with everything,” Welker added.

So what about the downturn in negotiations?

“That was probably a bad choice of words saying they had gotten worse,” he said. “They’ve stayed the same.”

As to the tweet he finished with the “leapfofaith” hashtag, Welker put that in a similar category.

“I don’t know, probably not the wisest choice of words,” Welker said. “Sometimes you react on emotions every once in a while and it gets the best of you. I’m just excited to be on the team and help my team win.”

Welker also said that hadn’t given any thought to the possibility of this being his last season as a Patriot, saying he didn’t “foresee that happening.”

Dallas Clark made a visit to the New England Patriots on Tuesday, according to the Boston Globe.

That is somewhat of a surprise, considering the Patriots at first glance would not appear to be in the market for a receiving tight end. New England already has Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez at the tight end position.

Clark, who was released by the Indianapolis Colts earlier in the off-season, has drawn some interest from the Kansas City Chiefs as well.

Clark has battled injuries over the last two seasons, playing in just 17 total games. That showed up in his production. After catching a career-best 100 passes in 16 starts in 2009, his receptions fell to 37 in 2010 (although those came is just six games) and 34 last season in 11 games.

The 6-3, 252-pound former Iowa star is a veteran of nine NFL seasons. The Colts released Clark in early March.

Clark wouldn’t seem to make much sense for the Patriots at this point. The team has arguably the best tight end in the game in Rob Gronkowski and a much younger, better version of Clark in Aaron Hernandez. New England also added Daniel Fells as a third tight end through free agency.

I’ve also never been much of a Clark fan. In my opinion he’s always been overrated and a product of the Manning-led passing attack. He also drops way too many balls for my liking.

But he’s an intriguing name to consider and could be a guy to add to New England’s emergency list if an injury were to cause a depth issue at the position. If healthy, I could certainly see the aging Clark lining up in the slot in the Patriots version of the spread offense.

My guess is that we’ll never see Clark in a Patriots uniform.

What do you think of the Clark visit? Would you like to see him in New England? Let us know with a comment below!

Some took that leap as a good sign, not just that Welker was now under contract for 2012 but that it might signal that a long term deal might be in the works.

Two days later, it doesn’t sound that way. Certainly from Welker’s viewpoint.

“There have been talks, but nothing that’s brightened anything at all,” Welker told the Boston Herald on Thursday. “It’s actually gotten worse.”

When the Herald asked him to define the word “worse,” the Pro Bowl receiver apparently said the offer on the table is less than the two-year, $16-million guaranteed contract the team reportedly offered him during last season.

Then why did Welker sign the tender? Sounds like it’s simply because it’s not his style of hold out and miss being with his teammates.

“(Organized team activities) are about to start. The team’s all getting together. You get all these months off and everything else. I don’t know, you’re just kind of bored,” Welker told the Herald. “You want to be up on the field. You want to be up there competing and trying to get better. You kind of miss it. You want to be out there. It’s kind of hard. You’re getting told to do this, this, or that. You’re getting all this information. You don’t really know who to believe or what to go with. I think at the end of the day for me, if I go out there and keep playing great football like I have been for the past five years, eventually, it’ll pay off.

“If they see me out there at OTAs and minicamps and everything else, and I’m still out there winning and doing what I need to do to help the team win, you know what, the ball’s in their court to make something happen. That’s kind of my mindset. To go out and show them I deserve it.”

He also wasn’t comfortable taking the harder-line negotiating style that he dabbled with a bit last month in the media.

“I think those techniques work better with other teams. I think the best thing you can do, as far as the Patriots, is be there and let them make the decision if they want to do something longterm or not,” Welker told the Herald. “Obviously, I want to be there. I want to help the team win. I want a championship and all those things. I’m trying to do everything to make that happen, and I’ll let everything else take care of itself.”

Sounds in the end that Welker has simply decided to do what he feels is right and will leave the rest of this negotiation story up to the Patriots.

“The ball’s in their court. I just want to play,” he said. “At the end of the day, if it’s one year, $9.5 million, it’s one year, $9.5 million. I’m good with that.”

What do you think of Welker’s latest comments and decision to sign the tender? Do you think the Patriots will give him the long term deal he is looking for? How much would you give Welker? Let us know with a comment below!

Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker signed his $9.5 million fanchise tender on Tuesday.

Long term ontract talks have gone in the opposite direction, Welker told Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald today.

“There have been talks, but nothing that’s brightened anything at all,” Welker said. “It’s actually gotten worse.”

When asked to define “worse,” Welker said the offer on the table is less than the two-year, $16 million fully guaranteed contract that was offered to him during the 2011 regular season.

“The ball’s in their court. I just want to play,” he said. “At the end of the day, if it’s one year, $9.5 million, it’s one year, $9.5 million. I’m good with that.”

In Belichick I Trust

Bill Belichick has won a couple Super Bowls, and he leads an NFL-dominated list of the highest-earning coaches in sports.

Belichick, one of eight NFL coaches in the Forbes top 10, earns an estimated $7.5 million annually. The value, length and other terms of his contract have long been kept under wraps by Belichick and the Patriots.

Saints coach Sean Payton, suspended without pay for the 2012 season, would be one of the five coaches in the $7 million range which includes Pete Carroll (Seahawks), Jeff Fisher (Rams), Doc Rivers (Celtics) and Mike Shanahan (Redskins).

Gregg Popovich, recently named NBA Coach of the Year, and Bears head coach Lovie Smith have estimated annual earnings of $6 million.

Eagles coach Andy Reid is 10th at $5.5 million behind Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and Ken Whisenhunt of the Cardinals ($5.75 million).

In Belichick I Trust

Bill Belichick has won a couple Super Bowls, and he leads an NFL-dominated list of the highest-earning coaches in sports.

Belichick, one of eight NFL coaches in the Forbes top 10, earns an estimated $7.5 million annually. The value, length and other terms of his contract have long been kept under wraps by Belichick and the Patriots.

Saints coach Sean Payton, suspended without pay for the 2012 season, would be one of the five coaches in the $7 million range which includes Pete Carroll (Seahawks), Jeff Fisher (Rams), Doc Rivers (Celtics) and Mike Shanahan (Redskins).

Gregg Popovich, recently named NBA Coach of the Year, and Bears head coach Lovie Smith have estimated annual earnings of $6 million.

Eagles coach Andy Reid is 10th at $5.5 million behind Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and Ken Whisenhunt of the Cardinals ($5.75 million).

Prisco is clear to point out that this is his list based on his eyes and his ears listening to scouts. In some thinly hidden barbs at other top 100 lists (read: NFL Network), Prisco says he doesn’t have any fullbacks or QBs who play like fullbacks. Says Tim Tebow wouldn’t be in his top 300 players, never mind top 100. (He actually states at the end that Tebow ranked 705 overall!)

Anyway, Tom Brady comes in at No. 2 overall in this list, falling a spot from No. 1 on last year’s incarnation, as Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers moved to the top spot.

Rob Gronkowski is No. 10 on the list, the first tight end in the mix. That’s pretty impressive considering that Prisco didn’t have Gronk in the top 100 at all a year ago at this time. Prisco says that Gronkowski “emerged as the league’s best tight end in 2011 and there’s no reason why he can’t be even better. He’s too fast for linebackers and too strong for safeties.”

Vince Wilfork is New England’s next player, and first defensive name, as he holds down the No. 30 spot. That’s up from No. 60 a year earlier, despite the dismal performance by the Patriots defense as a whole in 2011.

Wes Welker comes next at No. 42, surprisingly he was only an honorable mention on this version of a top 100 a year earlier. Prisco writes: “He is the prototypical slot receiver, a vital part of the New England passing game. What would the New England offense be without him?

Logan Mankins is No. 87, another honorable mention from the year earlier, who is the final Patriots player listed.

Prisco does include Aaron Hernandez as the top name on his list of 10 players who “just missed.”

What do you think of the list? Patriots who should have made it but didn’t? Should be higher? Let us, and Prisco, know with a comment below!