Patriots gridiron news: For every Cassius Marsh, there’s a Shea McClellin
With the running theme that the New England Patriots don’t have any “fun,” former linebacker Shea McClellin relished his time in Foxborough.
First off, let’s just get this out of the way about the New England Patriots. The Patriot Way has not been under scrutiny this offseason because of the words of Lane Johnson or even Cassius Marsh.
Those hits he has taken are direct results of his decision not to play Malcolm Butler in Super Bowl LII mixed in with tension between himself and two of his stars, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
With that being said, those players are have put in the work and have helped establish the Patriots’ culture. Any frustration they have had or still has with Belichick snowballed because the team did not get that sixth Super Bowl ring.
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In other words, if they had won…the Patriot Way or the way things are done at One Patriot Way would not be under such a microscope and one Cassius Marsh would still be a player known more for his crazy tattoos than the horrible time he claimed he had with the Patriots.
As word got out Monday that Marsh actually played a role in getting himself cut by reportedly throwing a halftime locker-room fit during the team’s game against the Oakland Raiders in Mexico City, its more apparent that his brief time with the New England Patriots didn’t work out because it wasn’t fun, it didn’t work out because Marsh simply didn’t fit the type of player Belichick relishes.
Sure, he made some nice plays. But, what New England Patriots fans remember most about Cassius Marsh are the big plays he missed and that undisciplined running into the kicker play on special teams.
He didn’t work out because he didn’t do his job and it sounds like he took some days off both mentally and in the film room.
For every Cassius Marsh, there is a Shea McClellin
While the NFL media will harp on the words of Cassius Marsh because it contributes to the hopeful demise of the New England Patriots dynasty, a player like Shea McClellin has praised the organization.
Ironically, if McClellin wasn’t sidelined all of 2017 due to a head injury, there may have never been a trade for Marsh. The former Patriots linebacker has decided to walk away from the game for now, but told ESPN’s Mike Reiss in an interview that his time in New England were the best two years of his career.
"“I definitely think it from the top, Bill [Belichick] and Mr. Kraft, and then it just trickles down,” McClellin said, via ESPN. “Then you have leaders like Tom [Brady] and Matt [Slater] and Dev [Devin McCourty] – the captains. When you come in as a new guy or a young guy, and you see how laid-back and easy-going the captain are; they’ll just come up and talk to you and genuinely want to know about how you’re doing and how your life is. I think that’s something that makes the chemistry and camaraderie that much better.”"
Labeling himself a “Patriots fan for life,” Shea McClellin sees all the anti-Patriots culture chat as slander coming from players who haven’t experienced it and in the case of Cassius Marsh, hasn’t experienced it the way he has.
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McClellin also morphed into one of those players willing to do what it takes to make the entire engine run. The type of player Bill Belichick relishes. Marsh was one of his miscalculations that has happened a few times in his long tenure as the New England Patriots head coach.