The New Patriots Dynasty and Its Core Four

by Chase Stuart on January 28, 2018

The lone holdover on the last two dynasties in the NFL.

From 2001 to 2004, the Patriots won three out of four Super Bowls, which was widely considered to form a dynasty. Sure, New England missed the playoffs in ’02, but the Patriots matched the ’90s Cowboys by winning three Super Bowls in just four seasons.

Well, the Patriots have been so good since then that it’s sometimes hard to realize that the Patriots are on the verge of forming another dynasty. After all, with a win in Super Bowl LII, New England will join the ’01-’04 Patriots and the ’92-’95 Cowboys as the only teams to win three Super Bowls in four years.

Which, you know, is pretty remarkable.

Also remarkable? Just four players in this run — QB Tom Brady, safeties Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung, and tackle Nate Solder — played in at least 40% of Patriots regular season snaps in 2014, 2016, and 2017. The table below shows the percentage of offensive or defensive snaps by each player on New England in 2014, 2016, and 2017.

Player	Pos	2014	2016	2017	Total
Devin McCourty	S	0.92	0.98	0.97	2.87
Nate Solder	T	0.92	0.92	0.98	2.82
Patrick Chung	S	0.77	0.96	0.88	2.61
Tom Brady	QB	0.94	0.73	0.98	2.65
Marcus Cannon	T	0.38	0.92	0.42	1.73
Rob Gronkowski	TE	0.73	0.31	0.79	1.84
Duron Harmon	S	0.26	0.49	0.66	1.40
Danny Amendola	WR	0.4	0.24	0.5	1.14
James Develin	FB	0.23	0.31	0.3	0.84
Dont'a Hightower	LB	0.77	0.68	0.22	1.67
Cameron Fleming	T	0.18	0.25	0.32	0.76
Malcolm Butler	CB	0.17	0.97	0.98	2.11
Alan Branch	DT	0.15	0.6	0.26	1.01
James White	RB	0.03	0.38	0.34	0.74
Brandon Bolden	RB	0.06	0.01	0.04	0.11
Matt Slater	WR	0.01	0.05	0.01	0.07
Joe Thuney	G	0	1	1	1.99
Shaq Mason	G	0	0.91	1	1.91
David Andrews	C	0	1	0.87	1.87
Julian Edelman	WR	0.71	0.78	0	1.49
Rob Ninkovich	DE	0.94	0.44	0	1.38
Logan Ryan	CB	0.47	0.86	0	1.33
Trey Flowers	DE	0	0.54	0.76	1.30
Jamie Collins	LB	0.85	0.42	0	1.27
Chris Hogan	WR	0	0.74	0.52	1.26
Malcom Brown	DT	0	0.57	0.51	1.08
Darrelle Revis	CB	0.93	0	0	0.93
Brandin Cooks	WR	0	0	0.93	0.93
Kyle Van Noy	LB	0	0.24	0.67	0.91
Sebastian Vollmer	T	0.89	0	0	0.89
Brandon LaFell	WR	0.81	0	0	0.81
Martellus Bennett	TE	0	0.78	0.02	0.80
Elandon Roberts	LB	0	0.26	0.53	0.79
Ryan Wendell	C	0.78	0	0	0.78
Stephon Gilmore	CB	0	0	0.77	0.77
Dan Connolly	G	0.74	0	0	0.74
Vince Wilfork	DT	0.74	0	0	0.74
Bryan Stork	C	0.7	0	0	0.70
Eric Rowe	CB	0	0.43	0.24	0.68
Chris Long	DE	0	0.65	0	0.65
Chandler Jones	DE	0.6	0	0	0.60
Jabaal Sheard	DE	0	0.56	0	0.56
LeGarrette Blount	RB	0.09	0.47	0	0.56
Lawrence Guy	DE	0	0	0.55	0.55
Brandon Browner	CB	0.53	0	0	0.53
Shane Vereen	RB	0.52	0	0	0.52
Deatrich Wise Jr.	DE	0	0	0.51	0.51
Dion Lewis	RB	0	0.15	0.36	0.50
Malcolm Mitchell	WR	0	0.48	0	0.48
Jonathan Jones	CB	0	0.06	0.41	0.48
Adam Butler	DT	0	0	0.45	0.45
Michael Hoomanawanui	TE	0.42	0	0	0.42
Dwayne Allen	TE	0	0	0.42	0.42
Kyle Arrington	CB	0.41	0	0	0.41
Chris Jones	DT	0.38	0	0	0.38
Shea McClellin	LB	0	0.37	0	0.37
Akeem Ayers	LB	0.35	0	0	0.35
Phillip Dorsett	WR	0	0	0.33	0.33
Tim Wright	TE	0.31	0	0	0.31
Jerod Mayo	LB	0.31	0	0	0.31
LaAdrian Waddle	T	0	0	0.29	0.29
Vincent Valentine	DT	0	0.28	0	0.28
Marquis Flowers	LB	0	0	0.27	0.27
Eric Lee	DE	0	0	0.27	0.27
Jordan Richards	S	0	0.02	0.26	0.27
Jordan Devey	T	0.26	0	0	0.26
Josh Kline	G	0.26	0	0	0.26
Cassius Marsh	DE	0	0	0.25	0.25
Dominique Easley	DE	0.24	0	0	0.24
Ted Karras	C	0	0.1	0.13	0.23
Justin Coleman	CB	0	0.22	0	0.22
Sealver Siliga	DT	0.22	0	0	0.22
Alfonzo Dennard	CB	0.22	0	0	0.22
Johnson Bademosi	CB	0	0	0.2	0.20
Jimmy Garoppolo	QB	0.06	0.13	0	0.19
Rex Burkhead	RB	0	0	0.17	0.17
David Harris	LB	0	0	0.17	0.17
Tavon Wilson	S	0.17	0	0	0.17
Stevan Ridley	RB	0.17	0	0	0.17
Mike Gillislee	RB	0	0	0.15	0.15
Casey Walker	DT	0.15	0	0	0.15
Jonathan Casillas	LB	0.15	0	0	0.15
Cyrus Jones	CB	0	0.14	0	0.14
Jonas Gray	RB	0.14	0	0	0.14
Jacoby Brissett	QB	0	0.14	0	0.14
Brian Tyms	WR	0.11	0	0	0.11
Jonathan Freeny	LB	0	0.09	0.02	0.11
Deontae Skinner	LB	0.09	0	0	0.09
Zach Moore	DE	0.09	0	0	0.09
Ricky Jean-Francois	DT	0	0	0.08	0.08
Jacob Hollister	TE	0	0	0.08	0.08
Matt Lengel	TE	0	0.07	0	0.07
Kenbrell Thompkins	WR	0.07	0	0	0.07
Anthony Johnson	DT	0	0.07	0	0.07
Joe Vellano	DT	0.07	0	0	0.07
Michael Floyd	WR	0	0.06	0	0.06
Trevor Reilly	LB	0	0	0.05	0.05
Aaron Dobson	WR	0.05	0	0	0.05
Barkevious Mingo	LB	0	0.05	0	0.05
Nate Ebner	S	0.03	0.02	0	0.05
Woodrow Hamilton	DT	0	0.04	0	0.04
Kenny Britt	WR	0	0	0.04	0.04
Geneo Grissom	LB	0	0.01	0.02	0.04
Darius Fleming	LB	0.03	0	0	0.03
A.J. Derby	TE	0	0.03	0	0.03
James Harrison	LB	0	0	0.03	0.03
Michael Buchanan	DE	0.02	0	0	0.02
Clay Harbor	TE	0	0.02	0	0.02
Brian Hoyer	QB	0	0	0.02	0.02
Steve Maneri	TE	0.02	0	0	0.02
D.J. Foster	RB	0	0.01	0	0.01
Nic Grigsby	LB	0	0	0.01	0.01
Josh Boyce	WR	0.01	0	0	0.01
Cole Croston	G	0	0	0.01	0.01
Chris White	LB	0.01	0	0	0.01
Harvey Langi	LB	0	0	0.01	0.01
Bernard Reedy	WR	0	0	0	0.00

Even Rob Gronkowski was not a full-time player in 2016, as he was limited to just 25 receptions and 6 starts, and Gronk missed the entire playoffs. The New Patriots dynasty is shocking in that it has happened yet again, but also that it’s happened yet again with such turnover.

Tagged as: Patriots, Super Bowl LII, Tom Brady

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