He wasn't making that up (although it was pretty bizarre for him to do an interview like that midseason)
NE has tons of dead cap money on Brady, AB, Gostkowski, few other guys. They went all-in last few years and the results were well worth it. 3 superbowls, almost won a 4th, even 2015 came pretty close to winning it all even though they didn't play in the big game.
He left out a few key parts though
1. Their cap situation isn't the main reason they don't have a talented roster, it is because he hasn't drafted particularly well the last 6-7 years. Haven't developed offensive skill position players well either. Dearth of young talent on this team besides secondary and OL.
2. If he thought this was gonna be a year to fix the cap, why sign Cam and try to compete? Use it as a rebuilding year, deal Gilmore when he actually could've fetched more in return coming off DPOY, deal other guys for picks and really use this as a transition year. Instead he tried to patch it together and compete. I'm not even saying this approach was definitely wrong (I think it was tho), but you can't really try to do it and then use cap inflexibility as a reason for the struggles after.
Unfortunately, I think the reason he didn't take this pragmatic and long-term approach is because he didn't wanna get his ass kicked in his first year without Brady. Just ended up happening anyway. Ego is a real thing and any highly successful person is going to have 1, his bit him a little here.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...ts-dynasty-how-got-here-next-why-not-easy-fix
Good read though
