Most people are probably asking: “What is the Logan Mankins Curse?” The Logan Mankins Curse refers to a player who played for the Pats during the Brady-Belichick era, but did not win a ring. I call it the Logan Mankins Curse because he was drafted by the Pats in 2005 (right after they won 3 Super Bowls from 2001-2004) and was traded away weeks before the 2014 season (in which the Pats won the first of 3 Super Bowls from 2014-2018). I want to be clear: this is not named after him as a slight or because he was bad. Logan Mankins is a Hall of Fame worthy player and one of the best Pats of all time. His career with them just happened to be during the 9 season span they didn’t win (2005-2013).
I will be ranking players based on how good they were with the Pats, not how good their careers were overall.
1. Randy Moss, WR
One of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history and he was arguably at his best with the Pats. It’s such a shame they couldn’t get a ring for an all-time great player.
2. Logan Mankins, Guard
As talked about in the intro, this guy was a beast. He was a six time All-Pro with the Pats and he deserved a ring more than anyone else on this list.
3. Wes Welker, WR
A better regular season version of Julian Edelman, Welker was the perfect complement to Randy Moss and thrived while playing with Brady. He came up short twice with the Pats.
4. Aaron Hernandez, TE
He is now remembered for the awful things he did off the field more than anything else. On the field, he was super talented and along with Gronk gave the Pats a devastating TE combo.
5. Brandon Meriweather, Saftey
He was a very underrated player and could absolutely lay guys out. People don’t play the game like him anymore due to rule changes.
6. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Running Back
An all-time nickname (Law Firm), hard running style, and lack of fumbling made him a great fit in New England. He brought that great hard-nosed running style before we had LeGarrette Blount.
7. Danny Woodhead, Running Back
He was such a gritty and talented pass catcher who complemented the Pats playing style so well.
8. Aqib Talib, Corner Back
He only played here a year, but was an All-Pro and Pro Bowler for us.
9. Brandin Cooks, WR
He also came in for just a year, but helped us get to a Super Bowl as our WR1 when Edelman was out in 2017.
10. Matt Cassell, QB
He was better after the Pats, but still managed to come in and lead the Pats to 11 wins after Brady went down in 2008.
Bonus Fun Fact: In doing the research for this blog, I realized that during the 2010 season, the Pats had Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, Deion Branch, Kevin Faulk, Rob Gronkowski, and Aaron Hernandez all at the same time. I know that some players were early in the careers and some later, but to have all that talent on the same team is crazy. And it’s no surprise Brady won MVP that year.
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