ClosingTime said:
Where did that thread go where I stated that players were upset at the way the Pats FO handled this situation? And people called me a liar. Well I guess I'll keep this on file in case I need to defend my good name in the future...
Patriots veterans were clearly upset at Branch's departure, especially given that he had done everything the organization had asked. The fact that the team is attempting to recoup nearly $800,000 in fines and bonus money only adds to the frustration. "When you look at Deion Branch, he embodies everything as a football player and everything that we talked about as the type of guys we want on this team," said Pro Bowl defensive end Richard Seymour, who briefly held out last year in a contract dispute. "I saw a lot of hearts broken when coach Belichick announced that move."
Where in there does it say that players were upset at the way the Pat's FO handled this situation? Oh that's right, it doesn't. They were upset that a deal didn't get done, but Brady clearly indicated his support for this FO and their disciplined approach to the business end of football. And last time I checked Richard isn't the player personnel evaluator who decides what embodies our kind of player. Honoring your contract and caring more about winning championships than landing a better or just bigger sounding deal than (...name the player you are obcessed with guaging yourself against) is part of the equation in evaluating our kind of player. Those who can't or won't fit that part of the models are just transient rentals. They will be replaced by other transient rentals, either draftees or hungry veterans until or unless one of those emerges as a long term solution at the position. That is the system.
Seymour is still grappling with the fact that what he did last season led his little buddy to try the same tack and that led to the only viable alternative being his playing 3500 miles west of Gillette from here on.
Brady now understands that players who holdout for $$$ aren't always just trying to leverage a little more out of his team - despite how much they tell him they want to stay here with him. The resolve he misjudged wasn't Belioli's - it was Branch's. From here on out when they start this crap they are on their own. He will support their right to, but he won't invest his time (working with them after hours) or his emotions in what was apparently never a terribly tortured decision for the Branch camp. It was always going to be pay me now or I quit on you - FO and teamates - something Brady couldn't comprehend his buddy ultimately doing six weeks ago.
That is the mistake he acknowledged. Richard has yet to acknowledge his. And that doesn't surprise me because I believe while Richard certainly leads by example in his performance on and off the field, sometimes effectively and other times poorly, he is not a natural born leader like Brady. This is Tommy's team and Richard is merely the most talented player on it's defense. They have tried to bring Richard along as a leader, and while he is more vocal than he used to be he is still not a good fit because of his own lingering mindset. He kvetched for 3 years about his deal and chaffed when guys like Stroud got a bigger deal before he did. Until that stops mattering to him, if it ever does, he cannot be a leadership fit in this system.
A few years ago when they tapped Tedy to throw out the first pitch on opening day at Fenway, they also targeted Richard who had to be talked into it. They wanted to expose him to what it could be like to be an icon in a sports crazy town for years to come. They wanted him to rub shoulders with the Orr's and Russel's in attendance, and while it did strike a cord with him it was not a sufficient one to stave off his own holdout just three months later. It is worth noting that at that time getting deals done was not an easy thing for this franchise to do. We were up against the cap and facing potential labor unrest. But all Richard could see was Brady got his so where is mine? His was always in 2006, and had we accomplished that without the holdout Branch might be on the field today.
Or had the mediots not decided to award Branch Brady's third MVP trophy one February - because absent that Branch's resume is that of a 4/$18-20M WR. Worth a little more to this team perhaps because his skill set suited Brady's and this system. And as Peter King indicated yesterday on some level the players in the Patriots locker room understood that, support for a beloved teamate aside.
Maybe we could have spent our money elsewhere if they weren't saving it for them.
