Brandon Spikes: ‘Me and the Hoodie kissed and made up’

Robert E. Klein for the Boston Globe

By Erik Frenz

May 29, 2015

2 minutes to read

Any bad blood that may have existed between New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and linebacker Brandon Spikes appears to have subsided.

The Patriots brought back Spikes on a one-year deal, and now it’s time to leave the old grudges in the past.

“We can clearly see that me and the hoodie kissed and made up,’’ Spikes said on Friday after the team’s first open practice of organized team activities.

Spikes was drafted by the Patriots in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, and played the first four years of his career in New England before a bad falling-out led to some tension between the two parties.

Spikes had gained a reputation of rubbing some people the wrong way in New England. He was late to a team meeting during a bye week before the team’s divisional playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts. There was heavy snowfall that day, and Spikes tweeted that he was stuck in his driveway. Shortly afterward, the Patriots placed Spikes on injured reserve, ending his season.

According to reports at the time, the move was disciplinary. Spikes had been dealing with a nagging knee injury, but Spikes’ agent contends that his client could have played through the injury and that there was no conversation between the two sides.

The harsh conclusion to Spikes’ tenure in New England spurred some interesting and bitter tweets from the former Florida Gators linebacker, in which he referred to his time in New England as “four years a slave’’ and added it would be “icing on the cake to hand the Patriots two big L’s’’ after he signed with the Buffalo Bills.

You can probably understand why it would be a bit surprising for Spikes to pick up the phone and hear Bill Belichick on the other end of the line.

“Like I said, when the hoodie and I talked, [we decided] let’s put it all behind us,’’ Spikes said. “I was a bit surprised to hear his voice, [considering] the way I left. But like I said, that’s in the past and I’m very thankful to be here. I just want to show them that I’ve changed as an individual, as a player, as a man. I’m gonna show ‘em. Better than just saying it, I’m gonna show ‘em.’’

Spikes could have an opportunity to show Belichick and everyone else, especially if either Dont’a Hightower or Jerod Mayo are unavailable at the beginning of the 2015 season.