49ers' Marsh hates on playing for Patriots: 'They don’t have fun there'
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Cassius Marsh spent nine games with the New England Patriots last year; nine too many, if you ask him.
"They don’t have fun there. There's nothing fun about it. There's nothing happy about it," the fifth-year veteran told Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I didn't enjoy any of my time there, you know what I'm saying? It made me, for the first time in my life, think about not playing football because I hated it that much."
Patriots Nation apparently didn't take too kindly to Marsh's criticism, and Marsh responded by doubling down on his stance.
"I just want to address all you Patriots fans who don't like this new article. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings," Marsh said in an Instagram video, via ProFootballTalk's Michael David Smith. "Seems to be breaking your heart. But if you can't handle the truth, stay off my page. Don't read articles.
"That's how I felt. That's how I still feel and I'm grateful to be away from there, grateful to be where I'm at."
After three years in Seattle, New England acquired Marsh in exchange for a pair of draft picks before the start of the 2017 regular season.
Marsh struggled over his nine contests with the Patriots, compiling 19 tackles and one sack, but said he was misused by Bill Belichick and his coaching staff.
"They asked me to do a bunch of stuff that I had never done: covering running backs and receivers and basically almost never rushing the passer, which is what I did in playing defensive line," he said.
Marsh said he eventually told Belichick it was his desire to move on from the team.
"I confronted (Belichick) about all the things that were going on," he said. "I won't get into detail, but it was B.S. things they were doing. I just wasn't a fan. And so I, basically, without asking to get cut, I kind of asked to get cut. … I had confidence that I would have an opportunity elsewhere and I would take advantage of it."
Marsh eventually got his wish, and the 49ers claimed the UCLA product after the Pats waived him in November. He posted 11 tackles and two sacks over the remaining six games with San Francisco.