Patriots news: Benjamin Watson now has 'a different appreciation' for Bill Belichick

Benjamin Watson has learned to appreciate his coach differently given his time with Bill Belichick and later time apart from the future Hall of Fame coach.

New England Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson has had quite the NFL journey.

Watson, 38, was selected in the first round of the 2004 draft by the Patriots and spent the first six years of his career with the New England franchise. Watson would leave the Patriots in 2010, however, playing with the Cleveland Browns and later New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens.

Watson retired at the conclusion of the 2018 season, but came out of his brief retirement to re-sign with his original team, the Patriots, in May 2019. Later that month, Watson failed a drug test, thus suspending the veteran TE for the first four games of the upcoming season.

Given his time with Belichick and later time apart from the future Hall of Fame coach, Watson has learned to appreciate his coach differently.

Via Mike Reiss in ESPN:

“I definitely have a different appreciation for him than I had 15 years ago. There are many ways he hasn't changed. Sitting in the team meeting room, he says a lot of the same things, because they are still true. Being much older than I was before, I'm able to appreciate that a lot more — a lot of the coaching, and embrace it in a way I wasn't before. I can also see him separate from the coach, he does enjoy himself, he does smile, he does do all those things as a young player you thought he never did.”

Watson has 5,885 career receiving yards in his 14-year NFL tenure. He's caught 44 touchdowns for the Patriots and owns his personal team-best 12.6 yards per reception with the Belichick club.