The Patriots stars have taken what some consider thinly veiled (see video above) and not-so-thinly veiled shots at their head coach this offseason.

A former Patriot, Danny Amendola, straight up calls Bill Belichick a bad word, but he means it in a good way.

In an exclusive interview with ESPN's Mike Reiss as he returned to the Boston area for a charity event this weekend, Amendola, who last month signed as a free agent with the Miami Dolphins, says of playing for Belichick:

“It’s not easy, that’s for sure. He’s an a–hole sometimes. There were a lot of things I didn’t like about playing for him, but I must say, the things I didn’t like were all in regards to getting the team better, and I respected him. I didn’t like practicing in the snow, I didn’t like practicing in the rain, but that was going to make us a better football team and that was going to make me a better football player. It wasn’t easy, and he’d be the first to admit, at the [Super Bowl] ring ceremony, that it wasn’t easy playing for him. The silver lining was that we were at the ring ceremony.”

Here's an Instagram video of part of the conversation, via @espnnfl:

In addition to being a not-so-nice word sometimes, Amendola also calls Belichick "the best coach to ever coach the game."