Patriots legend Matthew Slater expands on 'The Dynasty' criticisms

Longtime team captain Matthew Slater is among numerous former New England Patriots players who have spoken out against how legendary head coach Bill Belichick was portrayed in Apple TV's "The Dynasty" docuseries. 

Slater expanded on his thoughts during a recent appearance on the "Eye on Foxborough" podcast. 

"I think now, stepping away from it, when we volunteered to participate in this project, the directors and editors, their goal is to create a product that people are going to engage in and talk about, and so on," Slater explained, per Karen Guregian of MassLive. "When you let someone else tell your story, you’re kind of at the mercy of what they’re going to do to get people to subscribe and watch." 

While speaking with Super Bowl LIII Most Valuable Player Julian Edelman for an episode of Edelman's "Games With Names" podcast released this week, Slater noted that Belichick was a "complex" figure who "got the best out of all of" his players even though he wasn't always popular inside the locker room. 

"...You don’t get a chance to give context to everything that’s discussed in that series," Slater told the "Eye on Foxborough" crew. "For us, there’s so many parts, and so many ins and outs about our experience as players ... whatever your role was. There’s so many details we don’t get to discuss and we don’t get to control the narrative." 

Those responsible for "The Dynasty" have been ripped by some fans who have deemed the series to be "anti-Belichick" in nature. 

With that said, it's worth noting that Slater did say for Episode 9 of the show he felt it was "hypocritical" that Belichick openly supported then-presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election. Belichick routinely demanded that his players avoid creating unnecessary distractions sparked by such actions. 

"They grabbed that comment and I’m sure people interpreted it as, 'Oh well, Slater doesn’t like Belichick, or, he harbors animosity,'" Slater added during the "Eye on Foxborough" chat. "I’m talking about one isolated situation that I had an opinion on. They asked my opinion, I gave my opinion. But it’s unfortunate because I spent two days interviewing, and I said more positive things about Bill than I could imagine. Of course, they didn’t use any of that." 

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said during this week's owners meetings he knew that "there were some really prominent people that were interviewed for hours that never were used" for "The Dynasty." 

Kraft, along with others, may have wanted the project to feature a more "positive approach," but the series creators likely aren't mad about how much those associated with the Patriots continue to talk about "The Dynasty" heading into April.