Lawyer Milloy isn’t harboring resentment towards Bill Belichick nowadays, but that doesn’t mean he was happy with how his time in New England ended.
The defensive back spent the first seven seasons of his NFL career with the Patriots, playing in every game each year and going to four Pro Bowls while earning one All-Pro nod during that stretch.
But just days before Week 1 of the 2003 season, the Patriots cut Milloy because he was unwilling to take a paycut.
In an interview Monday on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria,” Milloy explained what “disgusted” him about his exit.
“It was obviously a pivotal part of my life, my career, when you dedicated for so many years — I was there seven years — and helped really build it from the ground up to ultimately being a champion,” Milloy said, via WEEI.com. “I think I went to my fourth Pro Bowl in five years and then I was given an ultimatum: either take a pay cut or leave it. That was up to discussion. I had good representation with Carl Poston and went the whole offseason — the last time I talked to Bill was in June right before the veteran (time) when you can go out and seek another team and we had a discussion. He said basically, ‘the worst-case scenario is you play out this year and we have to re-visit it after the season.’
“So me and my representation were in agreement with that and the Friday after the last preseason game he pulled me into the office and gives me the same ultimatum: I have until Monday to think about it. Guys get released or have these situations come up all the time, it was just the way he handled it, trying to wait until the Monday before the first game, which really disgusted me.”
Milloy acknowledged the business side of things, and went on to admit that it took him a long time to put ill feelings toward the organization aside, but that he’s on better terms with the organization now.
