Shortly after his trade from the Philadelphia Eagles to the New England Patriots became official Thursday morning, Michael Bennett offered his early impressions of his new home.
Speaking with Megan O’Brien of Patriots.com, the veteran defensive end said the move to Foxboro has changed his outlook on the Patriots, who defeated his Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.
“I used to hate the Patriots,” Bennett said. “I used to hate it. I hated it because they would win so much. I hated it because Tom Brady’s hair was long. I hated that (Bill) Belichick would wear sweaters.
“But now that I’m here, I love it. I love Tom Brady’s hair. I love being a Patriot, obviously, because it’s all about winning. I think everything about the organization is about team first, and it’s just about doing what you need to do to get to where we want to go as a group, and I think I love that.”
Bennett said he hated the Patriots “even more” when his younger brother, Martellus, was with New England. Martellus Bennett won a Super Bowl with the Pats in 2016.
“He loved it, but the fact that he loved it made me hate it,” the elder Bennett said. “… I was the brother that was the Super Bowl champ, and then he took that from me. He just took it. Now, I’ve got to get it back.”
Bennett, 33, is on his third team in three years. He tallied nine sacks, 15 tackles for loss and 30 quarterback hits in his lone season with the Eagles and will help soften the blow of losing star pass rusher Trey Flowers, who left the Patriots this week to sign with the Detroit Lions in free agency.
“The greatest part is the opportunity to get to talk to coaches and see how many coaches admire you from afar,” Bennett told O’Brien. “And now to have the opportunity to be able to talk football and just talk about winning, talk about life and just talk about different philosophies that they live by. I think that’s the best part about it — to get a chance to pick all these different coaches’ brains about the success they had and the downfalls and what makes a great player and what doesn’t make a great player.”
