Did Pioli Mess Up?

[PatsFanSince74]

Yes, the Patriots did screw up. But, it does not make the punter any less of a scumbag for worming out of a commitment he made.

I'm glad that the POS is gone. We will have a punter.

I'm just as happy he's gone, as I held my breath everytime he stepped into a punt. This reminds us that this is a business and that NFL Employment Contracts are no different than any other Contract, where each side takes whatever advantage the letter of the Contract offers. He "committed" to abide by an NFL contract, and that is what he did.

 

[PromisedLand]

I suspect some underling was supposed to put together the package, and there was an omission of this form.. in the grand scale of things no biggie, things will be ok. Everyone calm down.

If the Pats front office indeed screwed up by not following procedure in the right of first refusal matter, doesn't it seem like this kind of screwup used to happen a lot more in the olden days, pre-Kraft? I can't remember any specific examples, but my sense is this kind of procedural/technical error seemed to happen a lot in the bad old days under Sullivan and Kiam (I've omitted Orthwein only because he had Parcells running the team and I don't recall specifically any such errors during Parcells' first year here.)

Maybe some of the other old timers can help me out here. Doesn't it seem like, even if the Sauerbrun affair WAS a screw-up, that that kind of thing has been much rarer than it used to be? I don't remember any other such incident since BB came here, nor for that matter since Kraft bought the team.

PS Sorry for cross-posting this. I posted much the same thing in the other Sauerbrun thread - thinking I was posting it here - this is where I meant to post it in the first place.

 

[Caspir]

I don't think Scott is the pne who wrote the contract. Whatever lawyer drew it up screwed up. I still don't get why people are making this out to be a great loss, but meh, the off season is boring.

 

[RayClay]

- They thought the RoFR would be an issue with signing him and tried to slip it in through the back door hoping to get away with it.

This is the correct answer. They tried to pull a fast one.

 

[patriotsdynasty12189]

Its a punter guys.....

 

[DarrylS]

Its a punter guys.....

Everybody calm down.. if this is all we have to bicker about, it is all good in Pats Fandom.

 

[Patjew]

Its a punter guys.....

It's still interesting to comment and speculate on. Not like there's a whole lot else going on.

 

[RayClay]

If the Pats front office indeed screwed up by not following procedure in the right of first refusal matter, doesn't it seem like this kind of screwup used to happen a lot more in the olden days, pre-Kraft? I can't remember any specific examples, but my sense is this kind of procedural/technical error seemed to happen a lot in the bad old days under Sullivan and Kiam (I've omitted Orthwein only because he had Parcells running the team and I don't recall specifically any such errors during Parcells' first year here.)

Maybe some of the other old timers can help me out here. Doesn't it seem like, even if the Sauerbrun affair WAS a screw-up, that that kind of thing has been much rarer than it used to be? I don't remember any other such incident since BB came here, nor for that matter since Kraft bought the team.

PS Sorry for cross-posting this. I posted much the same thing in the other Sauerbrun thread - thinking I was posting it here - this is where I meant to post it in the first place.

When Upton Bell took over as GM he instructed the staff to send out the letters renewing the teams options on everyone's contracts, which was a formality.

Phil Olsen's, (one of our famous useless draft picks and brother of Grizzly Adams), agent came up to Bell and thanked him for making Phil a free agent. Bell realized what had happened and immediately got together with new personnel guy Bucko Kilroy.

In his first month on the job, they'd accidentally made every single player on the team free agents.

Upton wanted to send out the options late, but Kilroy noted someone's agent was bound to catch on, so instead they sent everyone new contracts with modest raises.

In those days, a raise from the Patriots was hard fought, so everyone signed immediately and not one player caught on.

 

[PromisedLand]

When Upton Bell took over as GM he instructed the staff to send out the letters renewing the teams options on everyone's contracts, which was a formality.

Phil Olsen's, (one of our famous useless draft picks and brother of Grizzly Adams), agent came up to Bell and thanked him for making Phil a free agent. Bell realized what had happened and immediately got together with new personnel guy Bucko Kilroy.

In his first month on the job, they'd accidentally made every single player on the team free agents.

Upton wanted to send out the options late, but Kilroy noted someone's agent was bound to catch on, so instead they sent everyone new contracts with modest raises.

In those days, a raise from the Patriots was hard fought, so everyone signed immediately and not one player caught on.

Thanks, RayClay, great memory! I knew my sense was based on something real!

But, wasn't Phil Olsen the brother of LA Ram and 70's actor Merlin Olsen?

 

[RayClay]

Thanks, RayClay, great memory! I knew my sense was based on something real!

But, wasn't Phil Olsen the brother of LA Ram and 70's actor Merlin Olsen?

My bad, it was Little House on the Prairie. LOL!! Try to be cute. Not 2 of my fave tv shows.

I just found a big article and loved that story so much I pretty much memorized it. You can find the whole Boston Magazine article at ***&^%$#@**.

Just kidding, my asterisks.

 

[patriotspride]

Yup, they screwed up. I'm sure it's not the first time and it won't be the last time they screw up, but I guarantee you they will never, ever make the same mistake again.

at least they made the mistake on a punter .

 

[solman]

I think this is hilarious in that the rule the NFLPA negotiated and won on is the notion that neither players nor apparently their agents can be counted on to actually read the contracts.

i.e - if there's a right of first refusal clause actually written in the contract, the players require the equivilent of a neon pink sticky note on the front of the contract to let them know what's in the contract.

I suppose this might be a trend in the NFL to make it so the players nor agents are actually responsible for knowing what's in the contract they signed.

Personally I favor a kabuki theatre performance in which japanese actors and actresses donning all the flourishes of their art will silently act out all the provisions of the contract. Only then can we be sure the players and agents are fully informed as to what it is they just signed.

Player contracts can get quite complicated. If teams could permanently deprive players of their free agent rights by slipping language like that into an obscure provision of the contract, they would do so. This would force every agent to go over every contract with a team of lawyers (Who would then force the team to make dozens of meaningless drafting changes to eliminate even the slightest possibility that somebody could interpret the contract in a surprising way).

All this time and expense is saved by declaring that players may only waive their rights as free agents by explicitly signing a waiver to that effect. It is a very good idea.

Forgetting to fill out this waiver, get it signed, and send it to the appropriate parties is a stupid mistake, which the Patriot's FO will surely not repeat. But it takes a lot less time to fill out the waiver than it would to negotiate a contract under a legal regime that permits the fine print to revoke a players rights as a free agent.