More Alan Greenberg idiocy

[pats1]

On the Greenberg and Tony Maz midday show on WEEI.

Maz's argument on Branch was that he dishonored his contract and it wasn't the Patriots' fault he left.

Greenberg responded with something along the lines of "This is the dark area of Belichick's tenure...if the Patriots had shown an ounce of humanity and told him they would pay him what he was worth, even if it was a bold-faced lie, they would still have him instead of this bad group of WRs they have now..."

To remind you of more of Greenberg's antics:

http://208.109.107.176/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=38893

 

[BelichickFan]

Greenberg responded with something along the lines of "This is the dark area of Belichick's tenure...if the Patriots had shown an ounce of humanity and told him they would pay him what he was worth, even if it was a bold-faced lie, they would still have him instead of this bad group of WRs they have now..."

LOL, so I guess the $35M or so they offered wasn't what he was worth

 

[tedy hagler]

One of the football journals (Profootball Weekly I think) had Branch rated lower than Givens in a preseason survey of scouts. He was well regarded for work habits, big game play, but was knocked in ineffectiveness in the endzone (can't outleap taller guys and can be muscled off ball).

Final analysis: Loved the guy, loved his work ethic, but he hould have played under the contract--he signed it. More players should take out their wrath on greedy agents, not the team, if they don't like terms.

 

[Jacky Roberts]

On the Greenberg and Tony Maz midday show on WEEI.

Maz's argument on Branch was that he dishonored his contract and it wasn't the Patriots' fault he left.

Greenberg responded with something along the lines of "This is the dark area of Belichick's tenure...if the Patriots had shown an ounce of humanity and told him they would pay him what he was worth, even if it was a bold-faced lie, they would still have him instead of this bad group of WRs they have now..."

To remind you of more of Greenberg's antics:

http://208.109.107.176/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=38893

What it comes down to is this: Would you rather have had Deion sit out until Game 11, play the rest of this season and walk or get a first round draft pick next year? I choose the latter. If Deion had sat until week 11, my guess is he'd be hurt by now.

 

[thomas144]

One of the football journals (Profootball Weekly I think) had Branch rated lower than Givens in a preseason survey of scouts. He was well regarded for work habits, big game play, but was knocked in ineffectiveness in the endzone (can't outleap taller guys and can be muscled off ball).

Final analysis: Loved the guy, loved his work ethic, but he hould have played under the contract--he signed it. More players should take out their wrath on greedy agents, not the team, if they don't like terms.

Evidently the Seattle Seahawks missed that edition of Profootball Weekly.

Deion Branch obviously did the right thing by holding out. He was OBVIOUSLY correct that another team would be willing to pay him more, and would trade a first-round draft pick for the privilege.

 

[Bill B.]

How much were his four dropped passes against San Diego worth?

 

[Mark Morse]

It only takes one stupid owner out of the 32 to sign a player. The patriots didn't anticipate the new Collective Bargaining agreement to raise the salary cap so much, thus allowing teams to spend more.

Personally, I would have signed Givens to a contract worth what they offered Branch. let Branch go and take the 1st round pick. The money and a 1st round pick is way too much for Branch!

 

[Michael]

They're talking about something other than MLB on EEI?

 

[DaBruinz]

Evidently the Seattle Seahawks missed that edition of Profootball Weekly.

Deion Branch obviously did the right thing by holding out. He was OBVIOUSLY correct that another team would be willing to pay him more, and would trade a first-round draft pick for the privilege.

How did Deion do the right thing? How would Deion know whether the Patriots were willing to increase their offer or not when he never bothered to negotiate?

And, lets just remember that Deion had no clue that a team would be willing to shell out a 1st round pick. Not to mention that it took a few weeks of haggling for it to pan out that way.

There are too many holes in your statements.

 

[DaBruinz]

It only takes one stupid owner out of the 32 to sign a player. The patriots didn't anticipate the new Collective Bargaining agreement to raise the salary cap so much, thus allowing teams to spend more.

Personally, I would have signed Givens to a contract worth what they offered Branch. let Branch go and take the 1st round pick. The money and a 1st round pick is way too much for Branch!

Really? The Patriots didn't anticipate the new CBA to raise the Salary Cap so much? When 2 years prior, the rumors had it that the CBA was going to go up to over 100 million because of the new tv contracts?

The Patriots offered Givens a 5 year/ 20 million contract and they offered Branch a 5 year/$33 million extension. How do you figure that they didn't anticipate the sallary cap going up so much?

 

[tedy hagler]

Maybe. But the Seahawks are ordering back issues that discuss Branch and his slippery hands in rainy weather. Holding out was good move for Branch financially. But I think the Patriots win this one relative to the Seahawks.

Evidently the Seattle Seahawks missed that edition of Profootball Weekly.

Deion Branch obviously did the right thing by holding out. He was OBVIOUSLY correct that another team would be willing to pay him more, and would trade a first-round draft pick for the privilege.

 

[thomas144]

Maybe. But the Seahawks are ordering back issues that discuss Branch and his slippery hands in rainy weather. Holding out was good move for Branch financially. But I think the Patriots win this one relative to the Seahawks.

I am sure the Seahawks now regularly peruse this message board to get the story behind the story.

It's not 100% clear to me that the Patriots did the right thing by not resigning Branch. I do think the Seahawks gave up too much for him however. But the Patriots didn't have to give up a future 1st-round pick. I suppose they would have given up the opportunity cost of a first-round pick. Time will tell whether that was worth (possibly) blowing another championship. Needless to say, if the Patriots win the Superbowl this year, they did the right thing.

 

[Clonamery]

Time will tell whether that was worth (possibly) blowing another championship. Needless to say, if the Patriots win the Superbowl this year, they did the right thing.

Pardon my absolute ignorance of all things (not just football) but how the heck do you correlate that?

I feel like I just time-warped back 2 months on this forum....

 

[mcbee]

Branch wasn't worth that much. He isn't worth the contract he got, let alone the giving up a 1st round draft pick to do it.

It was robbery. It's exactly what BB is supposed to do. You have to be a horse trader and good drafter with the salary cap and the low rookie salaries. If someone wants to overpay for your so-soish receiver, then you take it and run. I'm surprised they offerred 6M per year for Deion. Caldwell is making about 1/10 of that. And doing a pretty good job.

Save the money for positions that really matter and are hard to get. Seems almost anyone with smarts and decent hands can work in this system.

The fact that Branch is a malcontent and spoiled brat just makes it an even greater do.

I wonder if Branch has to keep his head down in public up there. Is he ashamed to take all that money for his mediocre performance?

 

[tuckeverlasting]

Pardon my absolute ignorance of all things (not just football) but how the heck do you correlate that?

I feel like I just time-warped back 2 months on this forum....

doesn't matter if the pats win the superbowl this year or not, the pats did the right thing.

 

[thomas144]

Pardon my absolute ignorance of all things (not just football) but how the heck do you correlate that?

I feel like I just time-warped back 2 months on this forum....

I'm not sure what you are missing, but:

1. if the Patriots win the Superbowl this year, they did an adequate job staffing the team. this is true of any team that wins the superbowl. (any superbowl team is also lucky to avoid a disastrous injury to an irreplaceable player, but that's beside the point.)

2. If the Patriots do not win the Superbowl, it is fair to ask, why not? As I said, time will tell, but right now I think it is fair to speculate that not signing Deion Branch was a mistake. We shall see. No real point in arguing about it now, although if we could decide this in this thread, we might save a lot of time that will be wasted watching playoff games.

 

[vyrago]

It only takes one stupid owner out of the 32 to sign a player.

That is why God created Daniel Snyder and why, after this season, we might have seen the last of Samuel and/or Graham.

 

[thomas144]

doesn't matter if the pats win the superbowl this year or not, the pats did the right thing.

I guess if you define success by how little you spend on players, that could be argued. Personally, I think a successful team wins the Superbowl, or at least comes close (you can't fault a team for some horrendous injury or a fluke play, like everybody thinks the running back is down already and lets him run 76 yards for a touchdown).

 

[Clonamery]

(you can't fault a team for some horrendous injury or a fluke play, like everybody thinks the running back is down already and lets him run 76 yards for a touchdown).

That was kinda my implication but hey you seem to know where to get off. And thanks for clearing up an absurd statement with one(s) that cover all the bases.

 

[smg93]

How did Deion do the right thing? How would Deion know whether the Patriots were willing to increase their offer or not when he never bothered to negotiate?

And, lets just remember that Deion had no clue that a team would be willing to shell out a 1st round pick. Not to mention that it took a few weeks of haggling for it to pan out that way.

There are too many holes in your statements.

No holes in his argument in my opinion. Branch did the right thing for him because it turns out that he was right about being able to get more money from someone else. The Seahawks gave him more money. He may not have known who was going to give him more money when he decided to hold out, but the bottomline is that by sitting out, he did get that money.

He also knows now that what Seattle offered was more money than the Pats were willing to give him. Why? Remember, the Pats did have a chance to match the seahawks money and they didn't do it. It doesn't matter whether or not he knew about the first round pick. The fact that he got his money is all that matters to him.

Now don't get this post wrong. I'm not a fan of Branch at all for what he did. I also thing the Patriots got what they could for Branch because in the end, they were successful at getting an extra 1st round pick for him. All I'm saying is that thomas144's statement seems to be dead on when it comes to Branch doing the right thing for himself.