Lawyer Milloy was left ‘disgusted’ after Bill Belichick’s ruthless ultimatum

Lawyer Milloy is in good company now, but as one of the earlier Patriots standouts deemed expendable by Bill Belichick, the way things unfolded left him “disgusted” at the time.

In 2003, Milloy was a four-time Pro Bowl safety who had become a key cog in the Patriots’ Super Bowl championship defense. But a week before the season started, after declining to take a pay cut, the captain was released and left scrambling to find a new team.

“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,” Milloy said Monday on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria.”

“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 revisit 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 was set to make $4.5 million that fall and still had four years left on his contract. Instead, he signed with the Bills the next day and then helped them shut out the Patriots 31-0 in the season opener four days later.

At the time, Belichick said Milloy was “the hardest player that I have had to release” and “the hardest situation that I’ve had to go through like this, here or anywhere else.”

But that hasn’t stopped the future Hall of Fame coach from making more ruthless decisions in the years to come, from trading Richard Seymour to most recently letting Tom Brady leave to sign with the Buccaneers this offseason.

Looking back on it nearly 17 years later, Milloy said he understands the business side of it, if not the way it was handled.

“It took me awhile to even mention the Patriots the way it went down,” said Milloy, who added he has since been welcomed back “with open arms [by] Belichick.”

“I think he has changed over the years. He’s I guess willing to have the small-talk kind of conversations, he’s smiling a little bit more — maybe it is the young girlfriend he has now, but everything kind of lined up for me to go back.”