AzPatsFan

Now that Chayat has filed a Grievance, I think the NYJ front office is in a frenzy.

The NY Jets thought that they could stir the pot and make life miserable for the Patriots. They never considered the erratic behavior of Chayat. I think they thought we''ll make a high offer; the Pats won't agree to compensation, but in the end they will have to equal our offer to Branch or he will be bitter and maybe ineffective with the Patriots.

They never thought that they might well be penalized with the loss of at least one and a good chance two #1 draft pick. The assumed any action by the Patriots to invoke arbitration could be halted by Branch and his agent. Now they have requested it and provided the opening for the Patriots to jump to a devastating victory,by merely agreeing to an arbitrator.

It would doom the NYJ rebuilding program. Sooner or later Mangini and Tannenbau would be fired. If not for the direct stupidity of losing t #1 picks then eventually for the poor non-winning teams fielded without the use of those picks.

The Patriots would be strengthened immeasurably to add two top ten picks in addition to their normal (over) allotment of picks.

They offered Branch a salary equal to what the Patriots offered or near enough. But more importantly they both offered a salary package equal to a "franchised player" not just just as if one team did, and the other did not. Then there could be a dispute about the players value. Now there cannot really be one, since both made the "franchise player" offer or its equivalent.

So they BOTH agreed that he is worth a "franchised players" compensation. If I am an arbitrator, I look for guidance in the rules for compensation for "franchised " players. Fortunately there is a bargained and agreed value for a franchised player. It says compensation is 2 first round draft picks. There is even a precedent and example in which Joey Galloway,also a holdout and a WR, was traded for 2 #1 picks after a holdout deep into the season.

If I were the Patriots that is what I want, no more no less. That is what the CBA prescribes and precedent sets as guidance to an arbitrator.

Now the Jets FO thought they could mess with BB head, except it is backfiring and blowing up in their faces. The Jets may well end up in 2007 with a top ten pick and its possible the same could occur in 2008.

mgcolby

The Pats gave him permission to seek a trade I don't see how a team could be penalized for negotiating with him. That makes no sense.

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jct

WOW!! That is a dream scenario...
Love it if it comes down like that!!

AndyJohnson

The Jets cant be forced to trade for him for more than they offered.
How could someone tell them they are forced to trade for the guy but arent allowed to decide how much they give?


As I typed that, it occurs that it would be ludicrous, and really illegal to mandate the Jets must trade for Branch and tell them how much they give up for him. Which of course would mean the same thing in telling the Pats what they would have to accept.

patchick

I have to agree with the responses here...I see nothing at all that suggests the Jets have entered into any obligations. In fact, they could probably withdraw their offer right now.

MoLewisrocks

Which is exactly why Branch will lose.

Quick somebody fax Az's rant to Pioli as our brilliantly simplistic defense against Branch having anything to grieve.

The only difference between the Pat's and the NFLPA is that one thinks the NFL is all about the players and FA while the other thinks it's all about football and winning championships.

AzPatsFan

The NFLPA has now agreed that a implicit contract between and amongst the three parties exists. In that they support the Branch side and if the Patriots attorneys have half a brain, that side as they concur as well.

The New York Jets by making representations and offers of employment and compensation to a player under contract, have implicitly entered in to an enforceable verbal and implicit contract as now agreed by the NFLPA Grievance action.

The Jets Front Office screwed themselves by letting doofus Chayut run amok, in their behalf.

They will soon pay the price.

Collectively bargained compensation paid to a player compensated at the "franchise rate" for a WR is 2 #1 draft picks as provided by collective bargaining and by precedent (Galloway and Dallas Cowboys) a WR holdout situation.

The Patriots are just paying out the rope, are in the drivers seat and the poor Jets don't know that they have stepped on their crank...YET!

Go Branch! Screw your new team! The Jets and their fans will just love you when they realize that a couple of top ten round first draft picks went for you. I give you chances of completing your six year deal with them as Slim and None and Slim left town.

I hope you enjoy your guaranteed money because thats all you will ever see from the soon-to-be pissed off NY Jets and fans ...

Brady'sButtBoy

That frenzy in the Jets FO might just be gleeful, not fearful. There is no plausible scenario where the Jets will be forced to trade two firsts for Branch. Instead, Mangenie (not mangini tonight) has helped put a burr in the saddle of his number one opponent and let some bad magic out of the bottle.
One thing EM would rather not see is Branch playing for Pats when they meet. So why not take a shot at getting the Pat's best WR while simultaneously inflaming the dispute between the pats and Branch? Jets come out a winner either way. With the Jets offer, Branch becomes that much more unlikely to play for the Pats, weakening the Patriots and the AFC East, both good for the Jets. If the trade works out then the Pats will be playing against their former number one twice a year and the Jets organization can spin up a real boost for the team by playing the trade as having gotten the better of BB. Disrupting the Pats and taking their number one WR in exchange for a second round draft pick and jericho Crochery? Even if the player is Coles, the Jets can still spin this as a winning move for now and fire up the team and the fanbase. Touche Eric, you putz....

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patchick

AzPatsFan, you've said this a couple of times now but it just doesn't make sense. The grievance is filed by Branch against the New England Patriots. The Jets aren't part of it at all. Why on Earth would an arbitrator decide that the way to settle A's complaint against B is to force an innocent third party C into doing something it would never in a million years have agreed to? (And yes, the Jets are "innocent" for these purposes. The Patriots granted Branch the right to negotiate with them.)

The abritrator can rule that the Patriots are obligated to accept a 2nd-round draft pick as fair compensation (not likely, I think), or that they are not so obligated. The arbitrator can't decide to give the Patriots somebody else's draft picks without that team's permission. That would be outrageous.

Sundayjack

You jump three steps in two sentences. The NFLPA filed the grievance ostensibly because it buys into Chayut's argument that Branch and the Patriots made an oral contract. Nothing "implicit" about that. He's saying that it was a real, live, express contract, complete in and of itself. You're taking that and turning it into an implied agreement to comply with the CBA-imposed compensation terms.

Wait, I have to correct myself - you're jumping FIVE steps ahead in two sentences.

First order of business for the special master is whether or not this is even a grievable matter. Second order is to determine whether there was an oral agreement, and what it was. Third order of business, assuming Branch gets by the first two, is to enforce THOSE terms of the express contract.

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