This is NOT a criticism/insult of these players. It is more of an appreciation of how I continue to remind myself that I should not second guess Bill Belichick. These are the players I can think of that seemed still highly effective, useful, valuable, yet were let go/traded in the offseason before a super bowl win or during the season of a super bowl win. As far as I can remember, all of these had a kind of "well THIS move is one that will come back to haunt Belichick" from various outlets. Any others?
'02 into '03
Lawyer Malloy
'13 into '14
Logan Mankins
Aqib Talib
'15 into '16.
Chandler Jones
Jamie Collins
All hail BB. Now, again, this is not to insult these players. I was shocked at the Collins trade, and think he is quite a good player, and phenomenal athlete. I will say, however, for such a good athlete it seemed like there were numerous memories of him running 3 steps behind an RB in a wheel route every season he played...not an image I miss.