BradyisGod

You know my impression is that it's REALLY easy to look at all of these things as isolated incidents. Which every writer and everyone else gets to do. The thing that seems to be forgotten is that all of this takes time and effort to do any negotiation, and that comes at the expense of something else.

There is only so much resource out there. So if they were working on an extension for Branch last year, perhaps a deal with Seymour doesn't get done. Who knows, but my point is, is that you can't look at these events as individual instances. You must look at them as a whole.

And, to the media...YOU CAN'T EXTEND EVERYONE! Hell, Maroney looks pretty good in preseason, maybe we should tear up his contract!

Box_O_Rocks

2005, wasn't that the year NE's salary cap was incredibly tight, affecting the teams ability to hire street free agents as the season progressed? I also recall reading that Branch was offered an extension in the 2005 off-season, and Chayut turned it down. The CBA point is also a good one. Felger seems to be progressing nicely in his bid to be the next Kevin Mannix.

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ATippett56

However, David Givens has never put up "Hines Ward numbers".

MoLewisrocks

The comical thing is it was Felger reporting as early as 2004 that Givens had delusions of financial grandeur and would likely be difficult to keep as a result. And that you could never keep them both. Just as he reported first that Branch was looking for $12M+ in bonus money as a minimum which was going to be a huge problem. And I guess he didn't really read the Borges pieces a few weeks back either where Chayut admitted that the Patriots approached Branch right after the Superbowl in 2005, 2 years early, but naturally made what Chayut characterized as an insulting offer.

The Mike Felger who used to be the Patriots beat reporter and the radio host/TV host/columnist who now pontificates under that name have developed selective memory to enable itself to develop contrarian opinions to drive up it's ratings. Yesterday he was spewing how injury discounts for early extensions of impending FA's really don't exist or amount to a hill of beans. Mike Florio corrected him, but while acknowledging Florio probably knew more than he did about specifics he still doesn't believe such discounts exist. I love the let's not let facts get in the way of my anticipated storyline approach he can now take as a mediot. Renders his rantings worthless.

He insisted the Pats bent over for Seymour and he got a huge bonus in March....when a caller tried to point out to him that Seymour was still performing this season under his rookie deal which Chayut would have to call a 4 year $32M deal as opposed to a 3 year $30M extension, and had yet to see any of the bonus money (which his guest Clayton basically confirmed the day before when he placed the Pat's cap at $12.2M) which is being paid out incrementally, he said the caller was wrong and cut off the call.

He claims he wanted them to be proactive without overpaying. That's easy to say sitting behind a microphone. Felger the reporter used to applaud this organization for it's tough no nonsense stances. But he is now Felger the talk show host mediot who wanted the Sox to pay a 43 year old pitcher $5M a month to pitch after the break because dammit it's not his money and he wants to follow a winner with great storylines. He appears to be content to have the Pat's morph into the Redskins, although I'm sure he'd be the first to point fingers if it led to the same results.

5 Rings for Brady!!

The fact is that everything the Pats do is extremely pro-active.

They tried to tie up Givens early. Way early. He was a 7th round pick that wanted to base his salary on Hines Ward.

They offered Brady a couple extensions before he even became a big time Q.B. He waited for his value with the team to go up even further. He played for cheap money, and honored his contract, unlike Branch.

Branch was given at least two offers, one of which was a choice between a 3 or 5 year deal.

Light was wrapped up early, as was Hochstein.

They tried to head off the Ty Law situation by offering him an early offer, which he found insulting.

They made offers to the kicker during the whole franchising event, and this last offseason as well.

They made an offer to Andruzzi. They made an offer to Woody (a nice one).

They always make offers to players ahead of time and give the player what the Pats are willing to pay for the player's services. Time and time again.

Anybody that wants to gripe about the Pats Front Office just doesn't get it. People like Branch are paid what they are worth to the Pats, and if they don't like it, they can go elsewhere and underperform in a system that requires talent and not just coaching and scheme.

And, yeah, what Mo said about Felger.

kurtinelson

Thanks for that insight Mo. It would be nice if Felger did his homework before he wrote such things.

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Pats726

Yes..he is an idiot and in the "lightning round" later in the program, some caller pointed out the inconsistencies and his only response was that the caller was right. OK say it louder...mediot!! Totally agree..I hardly listen to him anymore.

Miguel

which is probably why those negotiations did not end in an extension.

My point was to refute the notion that the Pats were not proactive with Givens. I distinctly remember that they were.

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Miguel

I thought that it was Felger but was not sure.

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ATippett56

I agree the Patriots were proactive in contract negotiations with David Givens however, if I remember correctly, the basis of the aforementioned negotiations was the contract offered to T.J. Houshmandzadeh by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Unfortunately, Daniel Schneider's ludicrous contract offer to Antwaan Randle El has skewed the wide receiver market, in my honest opinion. (Ditto, the Tennessee Titans contract offer to David Givens this past off-season.)

The question remains whether the New England Patriots organization is willing to accept, at worst, a second round draft pick for Deion Branch if a bidder is actually found?