New England Patriots

Inaugural season: 1960

Home field: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts

Owner: Robert Kraft

Team colors: Navy blue, red, silver, and white

Overview

The New England Patriots are a National Football League (NFL) franchise that began play in the 1960 season. The team started out as the Boston Patriots and was one of the original eight franchises in the American Football League (AFL). After struggling to find a home during their AFL days, the Patriots moved outside of Boston to nearby suburb Foxborough, Massachusetts, and rebranded themselves as a regional team for all of New England.

Despite fielding some competitive teams, success was slow to come to the franchise. For the first forty years of the team's existence, they made a handful of playoff appearances and lost the only two Super Bowls they played in. All that began to change in 2000 when Bill Belichick was hired as head coach and Tom Brady was drafted as quarterback. Over the next twenty seasons, the Patriots were not just the NFL’s most dominant team, but one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. Between 2001 and 2020, the New England Patriots won six Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI, LIII) and only missed the playoffs twice (2002 and 2008). During this period, the team set numerous NFL records, while Brady became widely considered the greatest quarterback of all time even before he left New England following the 2019 season. The Patriots' success earned the team a loyal fan base and helped make the franchise one of the most valuable in professional sports. By 2024, the New England Patriots were worth an estimated $7.9 billion and were ranked the third most valuable team in the NFL behind the Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Rams.

History

As the NFL grew in popularity during the 1950s, largely due to the increased influence of television, several business leaders across the country approached the league about acquiring their own expansion clubs. After the NFL rejected their overtures, a group of eight people joined together in 1959 to form the American Football League (AFL). One of those was Billy Sullivan Jr., a businessman from Boston. Sullivan’s team was named the Boston Patriots after the colonial Americans who fought the British during the Revolutionary War (1775–83). The team’s original logo was a tricorner colonial-era hat. In 1961, the logo was replaced with a cartoon figure of a Revolutionary War figure snapping a football. The figure was named Pat Patriot, and though his design was adjusted over the years, he remained the team’s primary logo until 1992. In 1993, the team modernized the logo to resemble the face of a colonial-era figure trailing red stripes similar to the American flag. The Pat Patriot logo remains an official alternate logo and is featured on throwback uniforms and merchandise.

The Patriots were the first AFL team to play a regular season game, losing to the Denver Broncos on September 9, 1960. For most of the next six seasons, the Patriots were competitive, posting five winning seasons and making it to the AFL Championship in 1963. However, the team did not have its own stadium and was forced to share facilities for a time with the football teams at Boston University and Harvard University. From 1963 to 1969, the Patriots played games at Fenway Park, home to Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. When the AFL and NFL merged in 1970, Boston moved to the American Football Conference’s (AFC) East Division, where it was placed with its former AFL rivals the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. The Miami Dolphins and then Baltimore Colts were also added to the division. The Baltimore Colts would later move to Indianapolis and become the Indianapolis Colts.

In 1971, the Patriots finally got their own stadium, a 60,000-seat facility in the town of Foxborough, about twenty-five miles south of Boston. To better reflect the Patriots' status as a regional team, the franchise changed the name to the New England Patriots. New England made the playoffs in 1976 and won its first division title in 1978, but never seriously contended for a championship. After the 1985 season, the Patriots made a surprising run to Super Bowl XX, where they were blown out by the powerful Chicago Bears, 46–10.

By the early 1990s, the Patriots were struggling to win games on the field and the team had been sold twice. The new owner wanted to move the franchise to St. Louis, but businessman Robert Kraft, who owned Foxboro Stadium, refused to let the Patriots out of their lease. Instead, Kraft negotiated a deal to buy the franchise in 1994 for $175 million. A year earlier, New England had hired future Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, who had led the New York Giants to Super Bowl championships in 1986 and 1990. With Parcells in charge, New England made it to the Super Bowl after the 1996 season. However, while that game was more competitive than the team's first Super Bowl, the Patriots still lost to the Green Bay Packers, 35–21.

Parcells left the Patriots after the 1996 season and was replaced by Pete Carroll. Carroll led New England to two playoff appearances, but was fired after a lackluster 1999 season. In 2000, the Patriots hired Bill Belichick as the team’s new head coach. A longtime assistant under Parcells, Belichick was technically under contract to succeed Parcells as head coach of the New York Jets at the time. Because of this, New England was forced to give up a first round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft as compensation for hiring Belichick. In the same draft, the Patriots selected an unheralded quarterback named Tom Brady late in the sixth round. Brady was not expected to be any more than a backup to starter Drew Bledsoe and spent the 2000 season on the bench as the team went 5–11.

After Bledsoe experienced an injury in early in 2001, Brady stepped in and helped guide the team into the postseason. In the playoff opener, New England trailed the Oakland Raiders 13–3 going into the fourth quarter. The game was played in a driving snowstorm, making conditions difficult. Aided by a controversial non-fumble call, Brady led the Patriots in a comeback and gave them a chance to tie the game with seconds remaining. Kicker Adam Vinatieri made a clutch field goal to force overtime, and made another in the extra quarter to win the game. New England went on to make Super Bowl XXXVI, where they upset the heavily favored Los Angeles Rams, 20–17. Again, Brady led the team on a last-minute drive and Vinatieri won the game with a field goal.

The Super Bowl victory marked the beginning of a nearly two-decade run of dominance unprecedented in NFL history. New England’s success was built as much on Belichick’s defensive philosophy as on Brady’s arm. From 2001 to 2019, the Patriots won seventeen division titles, went to nine Super Bowls, and finished with fewer than ten regular-season victories only once, during the 2002 season. That year, the NFL realigned the AFC East as part of a league-wide realignment when the Houston Texans were added as an expansion team, bringing the total number of teams to 32. After the realignment, the Indianapolis Colts moved to the newly formed AFC South, leaving the AFC East with its current four-team structure, which included the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, and New York Jets. The Patriots also opened the 2002 season in their new home, newly constructed Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Foxborough Stadium was the home of the New England Patriots from 1971 to 2001. It was a basic, no-frills stadium with limited amenities and seating capacity. In comparison, Gillette Stadium featured modern facilities, increased seating, and enhanced fan experiences.

The Patriots won back-to-back Super Bowls after the 2003 and 2004 seasons, defeating the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles, respectively. The team had a dominant performance in 2007, finishing with just the second undefeated regular-season record (and first 16–0 record) in NFL history. New England advanced through the playoffs to reach Super Bowl XLII, but in a shocking upset, lost to the New York Giants by a score of 17–14. The Patriots lost another Super Bowl to the Giants in the 2011 season and lost to the Philadephia Eagles in 2017. However, the team won Super Bowls during the 2014, 2016, and 2018 seasons. The 2014 victory over the Seattle Seahawks was cemented when cornerback Malcolm Butler made goal-line interception with twenty seconds left in the game. In 2016, New England came back from a twenty-five-point deficit to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime. The Patriots’ 2018 win over the Rams was the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl title, tying the NFL record held by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In the 2019 season, Brady led the Patriots to an eleventh straight AFC East title, but the team lost in the wild card round of the playoffs. After years of restructuring his contract to help keep the franchise competitive, Brady became a free agent and, amid reports that his relationship with Belichick had become strained, signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in early 2020. The end of the Brady-Belichick era brought much speculation from fans and sportswriters about how the franchise would evolve after its long run of success. Although Belichick remained head coach, the team struggled considerably over the next few years, missing the playoffs in 2020 and 2022 and losing in the wild card round in 2021.

Belichick concluded his tenure as head coach of the New England Patriots after twenty-four seasons with the team. After Belichick's departure in January 2024, the New England Patriots promoted linebackers coach and former player Jerod Mayo to head coach. Mayo played for the New England Patriots from 2008 to 2015 as a linebacker, serving as a defensive leader and team captain. Mayo played his entire career with the Patriots. However, after a 4–13 season, Mayo was dismissed in January 2025 after just one year as head coach. Shortly after Mayo's dismissal, the Patriots appointed Mike Vrabel as the sixteenth head coach in franchise history. Vrabel played for the New England Patriots from 2001 to 2008 as a linebacker, becoming a key part of their defense during their early-2000s dynasty.

Notable Players

Brady is the most iconic player in Patriots history. He is widely considered the greatest quarterback of all time for his many years of excellence. During his tenure in New England from 2000 through 2019, Brady set every major franchise passing record, as well as many NFL records. He won an individual-record six Super Bowls and four Super Bowl MVP Awards with the team, and later added another Super Bowl championship and MVP honor in three more seasons with the Buccaneers. Brady also earned three NFL MVP Awards (2007, 2010, and 2017), two NFL Offensive Player of the Year Awards (2007 and 2010), three First-Team All-Pro selections, fourteen Pro Bowl selections, and numerous other accolades during his time with the Patriots. He was named to the NFL All-Decade Team for both the 2000s and the 2010s, and in 2023 and he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in June 2024, becoming the 35th member to receive this honor. Notably, he is the only player to have the traditional four-year waiting period waived, allowing for his immediate induction.

Several other players who spent significant time with the Patriots have also been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Linebacker Nick Buoniconti played for Boston from 1962 to 1968 before moving to Miami and winning two Super Bowls with the Dolphins. John Hannah was a dominant offensive lineman who played from 1973 to 1985. Other Hall of Famers from the twentieth century include defensive back Mike Haynes, who played for the Patriots from 1976 to 1982, and linebacker Andre Tippett, who played from 1982 to 1993. Defensive back Ty Law, who starred for the Super Bowl-winning New England teams of the early 2000s, was inducted into the Hall in 2019. Another longtime Patriots defensive star of the 2000s, Richard Seymour, was inducted in 2022. Hall of Famers who played for the Patriots but spent more time with other teams include running back Curtis Martin, linebacker Junior Seau, wide receiver Randy Moss, and cornerback Darrelle Revis.

Other players have been honored with a place in the Patriots Hall of Fame. During the Patriots’ time in the AFL, Gino Cappelletti (1960–70) pulled double duty as both a wide receiver and a kicker. He was the AFL’s all-time leading scorer with 1,110 points. In 1966, running back Jim Nance (1965–71) set the AFL record for most rushing yards in a season with 1,458. The Patriot teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s were led by quarterback Steve Grogan (1975–90). Joining him in the backfield was running back Sam Cunningham (1973–82), who set the franchise record for career rushing yards with 5,453. Another player from that era, Stanley Morgan (1977–89), set the Patriots’ all-time receiving record with 10,352 yards. The 1997 Super Bowl team was led by quarterback Drew Bledsoe (1993–2001). Important contributors early on in the Brady-Belichick era included linebackers Willie McGinest (1994–2005) and Tedy Bruschi (1996–2008), running back Kevin Faulk (1999–2011), linebacker Mike Vrabel (2001–08), offensive tackle Matt Light (2001–11), safety Rodney Harrison (2003–08), and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork (2004–14).

Cappelletti, Hannah, and Haynes have all had their jersey numbers retired by the team. They are joined by linebacker Steve Nelson (1974–87), offensive lineman Bruce Armstrong (1987–2000), and defensive linemen Jim Lee Hunt (1960–70) and Bob Dee (1960–67).

The New England Patriots also had a couple notable kickers through the years. Adam Vinatieri played for the New England Patriots from 1996 to 2005 and was one of the most clutch kickers in NFL history. He made two of the most iconic kicks in football history—his game-tying and game-winning field goals in the "Snow Bowl" during the 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff versus the Raiders and the game-winning kicks in Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVIII. Vinatieri won three Super Bowls with the Patriots and became known for his ability to perform under pressure. After the 2005 season, he signed with the Indianapolis Colts, where he won another Super Bowl and extended his Hall of Fame-worthy career. Stephen Gostkowski played for the New England Patriots from 2006 to 2019, succeeding Adam Vinatieri as the team's kicker. He became the Patriots' all-time leading scorer and was known for his consistency and strong leg. Gostkowski played a key role in three Super Bowl wins (XLIX, LI, LIII) and made several clutch kicks in playoff games. A four-time Pro Bowler, he remained one of the NFL’s most reliable kickers throughout his tenure before leaving the Patriots after the 2019 season.

Other notable players who significantly contributed to the Patriots success in the mid-2010s into the 2020s are special teams captain and one of the greatest special teamers in NFL history Matthew Slater (2008-23), safety Devon McCourty (2010-22), wide receivers Julian Edelman (2009-20) and Wes Welker (2007-12), line backer Dont’a Hightower (2012–21), and tight end Rob Gronkowski (2010-18). Each of these players, and more, played pivotal roles in sustaining the New England Patriots dynasty, each excelling in their specialized roles.

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