Bedard: Brian Waters holdout for personal reasons and more $

[QuantumMechanic]

Bedard was on WEEI this morning and was asked about Waters. He said:

• Waters and Pats had an agreement to actually give Waters a raise, but with the condition that the pay be week-to-week and not guaranteed for the year, and let him skip training camp. It was all set to be signed when he reported.
• However, sometime after the agreement had been reached, Waters had second thoughts about playing away from home. According to Bedard, Waters "was miserable" living away from his family last year. Also, Bedard thinks there may be some personal issues going on, perhaps with one of Waters's kids.
• Waters still wants to play football, so there's some internal tension there. It's not like he wants to retire. He just wants to play near home.
• Waters asked for more money above and beyond the raise that had already been negotiated. The Patriots drew the line and basically said "look, we have an agreement, are willing to give you a raise, and let you skip training camp. We're not going to give you a further raise on top of that."
• So it all comes down to how Waters decides to balance getting to play football vs. living with his family.

 

[patchick]

That account makes a ton of sense and fits ALL of the available evidence.

Can't be true. :snob:

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

I'm not sure how more money would make the situation at home any better. At this point, it would seem to be his last season (maybe 1 more if he could play near home). So, a family issue sounds plausible.

Because, if you can't get geared up to play for a contender like the Patriots, then do you really want to play. So, it definitely has to be something else at play.

 

[patsfan13]

THis sounds like the real story. I can respect Waters for not wanting to leave home, and the Pats for not wanting to redo a deal they had agreed to redo, and for not letting him play for a team that could prevent them from getting to the SB (Texans).

 

[BradyManny]

All makes sense. I respect both parties involved and their stances except for two little sticking points for me:

- Waters signed a two year contract, so his options are either play for us or not. If he thinks the team should let him free so he can go sign with the Texans, he's nuts. There's no indication he does think this, but I just have to throw that out there.

- I get that he doesn't want to uproot his family now, but he had plenty of time in the offseason to make plans that would accommodate his family being in Mass. for the season.

 

[PatsSox363804]

If that account is true I would be shocked if he doesn't show up sometime around week 9 unless his issues at home are so serious that he feels he CAN'T leave at all or he pisses the Pats off so much they tell him to pound sand, which is unlikely. No way he gets traded to Houston though, he can forget that.

 

[Kontradiction]

I wonder how much more he wanted.

 

[Gwedd]

THis sounds like the real story. I can respect Waters for not wanting to leave home, and the Pats for not wanting to redo a deal they had agreed to redo, and for not letting him play for a team that could prevent them from getting to the SB (Texans).

Agreed. I think that, for me at least, the main issue has to be something family-related to keep him out of football like this.

I hope that whatever it is, it's resolved for the best for everyone.

 

[Big-T]

The second he asked for a raise on top of the already agreed upon raise the Patriots should have started fining him.

I'm past caring if he comes back or not, he's shown what he's all about now and I'd rather have players who want to play for the team out there as opposed to someone going back on something they'd already agreed on.

If it's a family issue, fine let him get it sorted but asking for more money after agreeing to a raise is down right selfish.

 

[patchick]

The second he asked for a raise on top of the already agreed upon raise the Patriots should have started fining him.

That sounds like the surest way to tip his balance toward retirement. The fact that they didn't do it says to me that they really want him back.

 

[JR4]

....

I'm past caring if he comes back or not, he's shown what he's all about now and I'd rather have players who want to play for the team out there as opposed to someone going back on something they'd already agreed on.

If it's a family issue, fine let him get it sorted but asking for more money after agreeing to a raise is down right selfish.

:agree: ...

great player but if these reports are true I wonder if his focus and emotions would really be enough on the team and winning. If he can't
have the right attitude and feel really good about being with the
team then it is best he just retire.
The Oline is starting to gel and it doesn't need a guy with a poor attitude.

 

[Sicilian]

That sounds like the surest way to tip his balance toward retirement. The fact that they didn't do it says to me that they really want him back.

I think all things being equal they'd love to still have him on this line. But at some point you have to draw the line and say, "Not only did we let you skip all of the preseason, but we gave you the opportunity to earn a raise that we weren't contractually obligated to give you. If that's not good enough, we need to move on." If you just keep obliging every time a good player wants a little more, than every good player on this team is going to play these games.

 

[Spiral]

Sounds like a guy who is putting his family first. He puts out a large number, and if the Patriots pay it, OK. If they don't, he'll spend more time with his family. I've got no problems with his approach, or the Patriots'.

 

[patchick]

I think all things being equal they'd love to still have him on this line. But at some point you have to draw the line and say, "Not only did we let you skip all of the preseason, but we gave you the opportunity to earn a raise that we weren't contractually obligated to give you. If that's not good enough, we need to move on." If you just keep obliging every time a good player wants a little more, than every good player on this team is going to play these games.

But they DIDN'T oblige. They didn't give him what he wanted, they just didn't fine him -- thus drawing the line on accommodations, but leaving the door open for a return. That seems like a sensible approach to me.

 

[dales804]

It is so frustrating listening to sports talk radio and hear people bad mouth the Pats on this. All anyone can say is that "the Patriots are pinching pennies again, this time on a Pro Bowl guard who played great."

Somehow people can't figure out that Waters is the one who reneged on the agreement, then decided to ask for more money. It is clear they had an agreement because the Patriots never brought in anyone else for RG, never fined him and always said it was a "personal issue" as it relates to him missing training camp.

I side with the Pats on this one. I am torn about having Waters here now because it's clear his heart isn't fully in it. But the Patriots can't just trade him to HOU to satisfy him. I wonder how this will all turn out?

 

[BTTA]

I'm impressed that Waters played so well while being miserable.

The only piece of the puzzle we don't have any info on is why he asked for more money after the deal was cut. We are left guessing.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I still have a little problem with this version because Bedard stated last week he had only talked to Waters once and it was some time ago and he also stated that they had the agreement about reporting hashed out before the 2 year deal was signed in 2011. Now he seems to have more detail but he isn't sharing which side it is emanating from. And I can't quite wrap my head around why you would ask for a $500K give back to be incentivized on a $1.4M base when it wouldn't alter your cap (only possibly cash) and whether the reports of more earnings took into account he already had $750K in LTBE incentives in the old deal...which if he started 16 games was going to pay him $2.25M. That's a million per less than Connolly's deal. And only $400K more than they were offering the corpse of Gallery.

Maybe his agent feared they would use him as depth and not let him qualify for his incentives. We still don't even know for sure what we're comparing without knowing just what the restructure offer entailed.

 

[patfanken]

.....And the "Felger fraud" continues. I wonder how he'll continue to spin this into being the Patriots' fault. That's what I'm beginning to hate about him. I get the contrarian thing. Its good radio, But what I don't understand is when the evidence keeps piling up that you are dead wrong, and you keep on keening the same flawed argument. Wake up Mike, you are letting the image you've created erase common sense, and you are looking like a fool

 

[MoLewisrocks]

It is so frustrating listening to sports talk radio and hear people bad mouth the Pats on this. All anyone can say is that "the Patriots are pinching pennies again, this time on a Pro Bowl guard who played great."

Somehow people can't figure out that Waters is the one who reneged on the agreement, then decided to ask for more money. It is clear they had an agreement because the Patriots never brought in anyone else for RG, never fined him and always said it was a "personal issue" as it relates to him missing training camp.

I side with the Pats on this one. I am torn about having Waters here now because it's clear his heart isn't fully in it. But the Patriots can't just trade him to HOU to satisfy him. I wonder how this will all turn out?

They brought Gallery in for $1.8M. They also shelled out $350K to bring Koppen back which freed up Connolly who had just signed a 3 year $9.75M extension to swing back to guard. But other than that...

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

I don't buy the "he wants to play closer to home" or "he wants more money" arguments. If this were the case all Waters had to do was show up to camp, fail the conditioning test and proceed to play lousy. That would have got him cut and thus free to go negotiate a deal with whatever team was willing to sign him.

My guess is this is something personal.