BOSTON (CBS) — Bill Belichick may not value his own players as much as you’d expect. He may consider certain players more or less expendable than others. He may be a ruthless GM. But one thing he does not do is lie to his players about how expendable they are.

Former Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather joined 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich for his weekly interview on Wednesday morning, and touched upon recent incendiary comments made by noted Patriots critic Bart Scott on Inside the NFL. Scott wondered if Belichick outsmarted himself by trading Jamie Collins and implied that he doesn’t show as much loyalty to his players as he does to himself.

Meriweather gave some insight into that question – certainly more than Scott, who never played a single game for the Patriots, could have given. Sure, the Patriots may be cutthroat at the negotiating table and treat players as more expendable than other teams would, but they’re still honest with players about their supposed lack of “loyalty.” Belichick and Robert Kraft make it clear that anyone can be cut from the team at any time.

“The Patriots are loyal to certain players,” said Meriweather. “Bill [Belichick], Mr. Kraft, anybody else in that organization, they’ll tell you that anybody can be gone on any day. They’ll tell you that. That’s not something that they hide. It’s not like they’re saying ‘Look, man, you come here, we’re going to make sure you’re here for your whole career.’

“When you go to the Patriots, you know that you’re going to be there throughout your contract, and it’s a possibility that you’ll get re-signed, but chances are, you won’t.”

Meriweather did admit one thing: that “certain player” is Tom Brady, and no one else. Belichick’s moves are ultimately predicated on having Brady as his quarterback. Having No. 12 has made it much easier over the years to be less “loyal” to other, more expendable players.

“I think Tom is the face of the team, I think Tom is the New England Patriots right now,” Meriweather added. “They’ll still be good without Tom. But with Tom, they’re outstanding.”

Meriweather also spoke about his own experience getting cut from the Patriots, gave his thoughts on the defense and their chances to win the Super Bowl, and answered Five Questions. Listen to the full podcast below: