COMPLETE Branch interview

[MrTibbs]

http://www.boston.com/sports/footba...006/09/12/holding_his_ground_pays_off/?page=1



After reading this article it makes the Patriots front office look HORRID. I gotta back Branch on this move. There are two sides to every story and it's plain as day, they were looking to exploit the guy........end of story.

"Over the past two years, Branch began to feel he had outperformed his original contract, which to this day he believes was supposed to be a four-year deal but was altered after he showed up in good faith to train with the team as a rookie in minicamp before signing a contract he had agreed to in principal. After he performed exceedingly well, it became a five-year deal, non-negotiable. Having no leverage, no money, kids to feed, and other family members to help, he signed it."

"``People kept saying and writing that my guy [Chayut] was leading me the wrong way," Branch said. ``He never led me anyplace. My guys gave me choices. They said, `If you do this, this will happen, if you do that, that will happen. This is the consequences if you do this, that is the consequences if you do that.'

``I'm the guy who made the choices. Jason never once said, `Deion, you need to do this.' It was always my choice."

 

[MrTibbs]

I don't want to hear about the "kids to feed" statement because the guy is right.

Why should every other WR of his stature get paid far more then him? If you were flipping burgers for five dollars an hour and a guy down the street at another burger joint is making ten dollars an hour are you going to be ok with that? Hell no way! The Branch situation is the same principle. I don't think its about the Patriots over paying for the guy it's more so the principle in my opinion. I get the feeling that if the offers were even in the ball park it would have been ok but that offer was complete garbage and he knew it was time to move on.

The Patriots front office can't be right every time. We know that fact after last years free agent signings and it is now evident they blew the Branch deal even though they are millions under the cap. If they don't change players won't stay and players won't come if the price isn't anywhere near right.

 

[grapedog]

First point...don't take anything Borges has to say, as truth. The guy is a liar, he has no professional ethics, and he cares nothing for the Patriots franchise. He constantly paints the franchise in as bad a light as he can every single time...and he's not even smart enough to occasionally write a good article about them in order to make the bad ones more honest and open. Borges is a f-ing tool...

how is the Patriots FO horrid?

Is Branch a TO or Moss or Harrison?

When Branch is actually one of the top 5 receivers in the game, then he can get paid like one...

I'll be interested to see how well Branch does without Brady, not vice versa...

 

[Keegs]

So Branch wanted more money? He did not like how the Pats ran things.

But then the pats made him an offer (two i thought, according to this site). Everything i read about it says he called the offers insulting and didn't even bother to counteroffer....

How do u explain that??

What about the offer they made him????
That's not enough to "feed his kids"????

**** Deion, and you need to get your head out of his ass.

We don't need him.

 

[shmessy]

It's called negotiation. When one side makes it's OPENING offer the other side is supposed to counter-offer.

You lose all moral authority when:

1) You don't even counter-offer
and
2) You don't show up to honor your contract

 

[Pats726]

http://www.boston.com/sports/footba...006/09/12/holding_his_ground_pays_off/?page=1



After reading this article it makes the Patriots front office look HORRID. I gotta back Branch on this move. There are two sides to every story and it's plain as day, they were looking to exploit the guy........end of story.

"Over the past two years, Branch began to feel he had outperformed his original contract, which to this day he believes was supposed to be a four-year deal but was altered after he showed up in good faith to train with the team as a rookie in minicamp before signing a contract he had agreed to in principal. After he performed exceedingly well, it became a five-year deal, non-negotiable. Having no leverage, no money, kids to feed, and other family members to help, he signed it."

"``People kept saying and writing that my guy [Chayut] was leading me the wrong way," Branch said. ``He never led me anyplace. My guys gave me choices. They said, `If you do this, this will happen, if you do that, that will happen. This is the consequences if you do this, that is the consequences if you do that.'

``I'm the guy who made the choices. Jason never once said, `Deion, you need to do this.' It was always my choice."

Deion is what he is.... a phony greedy scumbag.

 

[MDPATSFAN]

He's an even worse Tumor in my eyes after reading that. Now he's claiming victimhood.

Spare me the poor exploited victim working in slave labor conditions spin.

 

[MrTibbs]

It's going to be VERY INTERESTING how the players deal with front office when they have out grown their contracts. Wasn't it printed somewhere that Graham said he's giving them one shot to get it right and if not he's gone?

 

[shmessy]

BTW, someone on this board (I'm sorry, I wish I remembered who) wrote an excellent detailed analysis of the second, longer contract offer the Pats made to Branch and comparing it to Branch's stat rankings amongst the NFL receivers.

The Pats were being MORE than fair for what Deion brings to the table.......and they were doing it while he STILL was under contract for another year.

Borges is just being his usual mosquito on a Champion's neck.

 

[CrazyDave]

Poor Deion. Exploited? The people in the backwoods country that sit at sewing machines making Branch jerseys are exploited. I mean, gimme a break.
If his agent is so good, why did they sign the original contract?
Big surprise Borges takes the anti management angle. Mean old Pats.

 

[BelichickFan]

Whatever, the only thing I care about now related to the ex-holdout is the #1 pick we got for him.

 

[Pats726]

I get the feeling that if the offers were even in the ball park it would have been ok but that offer was complete garbage and he knew it was time to move on.

The only garbage I see is Deion REFUSING to negotiate...and REFUSING to show up. THAt is garbage pure and simple..Time to get RID of the garbage..But he can NOT move on as he was under contract..or did that NOT MATTER to him?? What kind of an NFL would it be if all were like him???
And fans sticking up for his gargage only influences others to do the same..which is NOT good. So he knew it was time to move on and NOT honor his contract..what a piece of work..someone with NO integrity at all..If he played this year and moved on NO ONE would be saying anything BAD about him..but because he has ZERO integrity and has acted like a 2 year old..fans will be on his case as they should be!

 

[Alk]

I don't want to hear about the "kids to feed" statement because the guy is right.

You're absolutely right, I don't want to hear anymore "kids to feed" stuff either. You know why? Because it's bull**** and it pisses me off to no end. How dare any professional athlete use that bogus excuse? Just about every other parent in this country feeds their family for pennies on his dollar. That's a flat out insult to the rest of us who work 10 times as hard as him sometimes doing something that we don't even love to do. He's already an ******* in my eyes but he could at least be an honest *******. He felt like he was worth more money and that's all there is to it. An explanation as to why he didn't feel he needed to honor his original contract would be nice too.

 

[BelichickFan]

From the article :

"he was offered three years worth $18.45 million with an $8 million bonus split over two seasons. Having seen his former teammate (and No. 2 receiver) David Givens leave for Tennessee and a five-year, $24 million contract with an $8 million signing bonus (a deal worth $15.3 million over the first three years)"

OK, so Brancg was offered about $3.3M over three years more than Givens. With a split bonus but over a short contract he would not have been cut. And he'd be a UFA again while still in his prime. I still don't see where the undairness is here.

 

[MDPATSFAN]

I don't want to hear about the "kids to feed" statement because the guy is right.

Why should every other WR of his stature get paid far more then him? If you were flipping burgers for five dollars an hour and a guy down the street at another burger joint is making ten dollars an hour are you going to be ok with that? Hell no way! The Branch situation is the same principle. I don't think its about the Patriots over paying for the guy it's more so the principle in my opinion. I get the feeling that if the offers were even in the ball park it would have been ok but that offer was complete garbage and he knew it was time to move on.

The Patriots front office can't be right every time. We know that fact after last years free agent signings and it is now evident they blew the Branch deal even though they are millions under the cap. If they don't change players won't stay and players won't come if the price isn't anywhere near right.

Invalid comparison...The Burger flipper has no contractual obligation to show up and can leave at anytime.

A proper comparison would be the folks in our military. A pilot who signs a contract for a 6 year obligation for instance. He can't hold out because the Airlines are hiring for $100K a year.

I agree with a post from another thread. NFL contracts just became worthless.

 

[grapedog]

because they didn't tear up the last year of his current contract....that was always the big sticking point. The Patriots got him to sign a 5 year contract which he didn't want to do originally, he only wanted to sign for four years...so after four years of starvation and malnutrition, his kids could finally be fed.

 

[grapedog]

Invalid comparison...The Burger flipper has no contractual obligation to show up and can leave at anytime.

A proper comparison would be the folks in our military. A pilot who signs a contract for a 6 year obligation for instance. He can't hold out because the Airlines are hiring for $100K a year.

I agree with a post from another thread. NFL contracts just became worthless.

Signing Bonus, bloated years at the end of a contract, players signing huge contracts that they will never see the end of just to say "hey, i caught a fish THIS big"....

all those things already made contracts worthless...

 

[BelichickFan]

OK, despite saying "whatever", I read the whole thing. I think the Patriots come out sounding fine, they offered good money - not just by my middle class standard but by NFL standards. Branch is just a greedy SOB who lied about fulfilling his contract.

 

[miDeuce]

Good riddance to Branch. I refuse to even read anything written by Borges, what's the point? I already know what he's gonna say. If there is one thing I absolutely HATE about professional sports it's teams like the Yankees and Redskins who continue to pay athletes over-the-top hundreds of millions of dollars. The Patriots have a philosophy and they stick to it. Everything they have done has been completely within their rights. Alot of us on this board have kids to feed and we do it on a lot less that 6 million dollars a year. What a load of BS. It's nothing but greed and I think it's ugly. And those kind of players I don't want on my team. There's a way to do business when you feel underpaid (see Richard Seymour) but if you're greedy and looking for a few extra MILLION go somewhere else. No one players is worth mortgaging the team's future for. The Patriots understand that and that is why they are the class of professional sports. People like Borges cannot apreciate that. So screw everyone who says the Pats FO is in the wrong here. They handled it as best they could with a player who wanted to be OVERPAID. We're the ones sitting with a crap load of draft picks and cap space. Who knows if it will get used this year. But with the O and D Lines we have and Tom Brady, Maroney, and the rest of our young studs THIS TEAM WILL BE IN THE PLAYOFFS FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. That sounds to me like a front office that knows exactly what they are doing.

 

[Keegs]

Deion's kids must be incredibly skinny.