Belichick shies away from Seymour trade questions

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP)—Richard Seymour(notes) made five Pro Bowls in five straight years. Two days after he was traded, Bill Belichick didn’t want to talk about dealing him.

The New England Patriots coach preferred to focus on the start of his first regular season without one of the best defensive linemen in team history.

“Because we don’t have rights to Richard, there really isn’t anything I can say about him or his situation,” Belichick said Tuesday. “So I’ll have to pass on those questions at this time.”

He was more concerned with preparing the players he’s still coaching for Monday night’s season opener against the Buffalo Bills. But he did praise Seymour.

“There’s a lot of things that Richard did well,” Belichick said in his first remarks since Sunday’s written statement announcing the trade for Oakland’s first-round draft pick in 2011, “but that’s the way it is and we’re moving forward and our team’s moving forward.”

He refused to say whether the trade had been completed in the wake of Seymour’s failure to report to the Raiders on Monday and Tuesday, although the defensive end was listed on the Raiders roster on its Web site.

Oakland coach Tom Cable said Seymour wants to be with the team but first had to resolve some issues with New England.

Asked if the deal was done, Belichick noted that the Patriots no longer had the rights to Seymour and said that the status of the trade was “not a topic that I’m going to address.”

The NFL wouldn’t talk about it either.

“Any comment at this time would have to come from the teams,” league spokesman Greg Aiello said Tuesday

In the Patriots statement Sunday, Belichick praised Seymour.

“From nearly the day he arrived in 2001, Richard Seymour established himself as one of our premier players for nearly a decade,” Belichick said then. “His presence has been felt as a force on the field, a respected man off it and a multiyear champion.”

Seymour was taken with the sixth overall draft pick in 2001 and began a string of five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances in the 2002 season. He played key roles on three Super Bowl-winning teams.

Seymour is the fourth defensive leader to leave the Patriots since last season after Mike Vrabel(notes) was traded to Kansas City and Tedy Bruschi(notes) and Rodney Harrison(notes) retired.

Now players like second-year linebacker Jerod Mayo(notes) and defensive linemen Vince Wilfork(notes) and Ty Warren(notes) may have to fill leadership roles.

“We have a lot of good leaders on our team and especially on the defensive side of the ball,” Belichick said. “No doubt about it, it’s different, but I think it’s good.”

Wilfork, in the last year of his contract, wants an extension.

Director of player personnel Nick Caserio said in a conference call that he had no comment on whether money saved from Seymour, who is scheduled to make $3.7 million in 2009, the final year of his deal, would help in negotiating with Wilfork.

Defensive coordinator Dean Pees said he was very busy preparing for the Bills game and wouldn’t talk about whether Belichick had asked for his input on the trade.

“This is not going to be an interview about Richard,” Pees said politely in a conference call. “It’s really about Buffalo and whoever we have here” to face the Bills.

The Patriots made other meaningful moves since Friday night’s exhibition finale against the New York Giants, cutting quarterback Andrew Walter(notes), wide receiver Greg Lewis(notes) and tight end Alex Smith. They signed to their practice squad quarterback Isaiah Stanback(notes), who played wide receiver at Dallas before being cut.

The Patriots have only Tom Brady(notes) and rookie free agent Brian Hoyer(notes) at quarterback and Belichick said he isn’t ruling out adding players at any positions.

But the big change is at Seymour’s spot, and Belichick wouldn’t say the Patriots will be better without him.

“We’ll find that out starting this week,” he said.