Number of current Patriots who have won Super Bowls in New England is dwindling
BOSTON -- The story of the Bill Belichick era in New England will obviously be defined by the six Super Bowl banners hanging in the south end zone of Gillette Stadium. No matter what happens in the future, those championships will stand forever.
Alas, nothing in the NFL lasts forever ... or for very long. Change is always the name of the game, and that's always evident in the roster turnover from year to year across the league. The Patriots -- even during their best days -- were never exempt from that reality.
Now three full seasons removed from their last Super Bowl win, the organization known for having champions up and down the roster certainly looks a lot different than it did on Feb. 3, 2019, when the Patriots defeated the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
In fact, the number of players on the current Patriots roster who have won a Super Bowl with the team may be a bit startling.
As it stand now, just 13 players on the roster have won at least one Super Bowl with the Patriots. Even that number is slightly inflated, as it includes Isaiah Wynn for being on the roster but injured during his rookie season in 2018, and it includes Ja'Whaun Bentley, who didn't play during his rookie postseason in 2018. It also includes Brian Hoyer, who threw a grand total of two passes while taking just 27 snaps all year in 2018, his lone championship season with the Patriots. And it includes long snapper Joe Cardona.
The total list of Patriots who have won at least one Super Bowl with the team is below:
David Andrews
Ja'Whaun Bentley
Trent Brown
Malcolm Butler
Joe Cardona
Lawrence Guy
Brian Hoyer
Jonathan Jones
Devin McCourty
Matthew Slater
James White
Deatrich Wise
Isaiah Wynn
Of that group, Slater, McCourty and White are the lone players who won all three of the Patriots' Super Bowls from 2014-18, though White didn't play in the postseason at all in 2014, his rookie season. Butler, Jones, Cradona and Andrews are the only other players with multiple Super Bowl wins with New England on the current roster.
The departure of Tom Brady in 2020 obviously sent the lone six-time Super Bowl winner away from Foxboro. But the team has lost a lot of championship experience elsewhere, such as the retirement of Patrick Chung, the retirement/departure of Rob Gronkowski, the release of Kyle Van Noy, the 2020 Duron Harmon trade, the Julian Edelman retirement, the James Develin retirement, the Joe Thuney departure, the 2021 Marcus Cannon trade, and the 2022 Shaq Mason trade.
The Patriots do have some free agents currently unsigned who would add to that list in Dont'a Hightower and Jamie Collins, and a Trey Flowers reunion in Foxboro still remains a possibility.
But for now, a locker room that was always chock full of champs is now a bit lower on Super Bowl winners than it has been in past years.
