FOXBORO -- It was serendipitous, really. The Patriots lost one No. 1 corner to one of their rivals in the AFC, and another almost fell into their laps.
In the NFL Network special "Do Your Job," which will air on Sep. 9 at 8 p.m., Patriots coach Bill Belichick explains how the timing worked out so that his team was able to replace Aqib Talib with Darrelle Revis following the 2013 season.
"I think they're both No. 1 corners," Belichick said. "They're different skill sets but Talib played a lot of good football for us and so did Revis. We tried to re-sign Aqib -- he ended up signing in Denver. And then Tampa released Revis and we were able to work that out with him.
"Revis is really a trade-off for Talib. Had we not lost Talib -- or had we re-signed Talib -- then I don't think we would have been in on Revis, even after he was released by Tampa."
In the middle of Belichick's comments, the NFL Network ran a clip of Revis practicing with the Patriots during last year's training camp. Revis was used to shadow tight end Rob Gronkowski as Gronkowski worked his way back from injury, and as part of the drill Revis was not permitted to try to break up passes from quarterback Tom Brady.
Belichick can be heard saying to Revis at the time, "You've probably never had so many passes completed on you."
NFL Network released the clip on YouTube Monday afternoon, and it can be watched here.