If you ever wondered what type of impact David Andrews had on his New England Patriots teammates, watch the nine-minute video the club released Monday following his retirement from the NFL.
Patriots legends, including Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Matthew Slater, Julian Edelman, and Jason McCourty, along with other former New England players, sent their well wishes to Andrews, expressing their gratitude for having him as a teammate and a leader.
With all the stars highlighting the video, Devin McCourty stole the moment when he called out the longtime Patriots captain for not divulging a specific fact about himself.
“James, congratulations, man. Unbelievable career,” McCourty said in the video. “I’m still mad that I had to find out so late in the game that your real first name is James. This should have been something you discussed day one when you came up and gave me a big hug, man.”
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All jokes aside, McCourty also made sure to send a more sincere message to his longtime teammate.
“Congrats, man. Awesome career,” McCourty said. “What I loved about it is you made everybody around you better. As an undrafted free agent, you came in; you broke every door in front of you, became a starter, a captain, a leader. And you did it year in and year out, no matter what you were going through, injuries, anything. You continue to always put the team first. And you did it for the guys around you, every single time.”
While McCourty made his first message a bit more humorous, Brady didn’t mince words on how important Andrews was to the Patriots’ offense.
“You couldn’t have had a better career,” Brady said. “You were not only a great teammate, but you were a champion. And playing that center position for our team all those years, as you know, the heart and soul of any great team is the offensive line, and you were the leader. You were right in the middle.”
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Brady wasn’t the only one to refer to Andrews as the “heart and soul” of the offense. Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft said as much in the statement he released after the two-time Super Bowl champion officially retired.