CHRISTIAN FAURIA HAD heard all the rumors about his new head coach long before he arrived in New England.

It was 2002, and the former second-round pick had just turned 30. He was a free agent for the first time in his career, on the verge of a decent...

In an era in which "player empowerment" is a buzzy phrase and NFL teams pour the GDP of small nations into finding and retaining superstar players, one franchise has chosen to proudly install itself as the test case for what a team could do if it...