How Would You Solve the Branch Problem ?

[TruthSeeker]

I think the damage is done. I don't think we'll ever see Mr. Branch in a Pats uni again. I would trade Deion Branch immediately to the Raiders for their disgruntled, but extremely talented WR Jerry Porter.They've already shown that they don't need him (Randy Moss & Doug Gabriel are studs, and 2 other BIG receivers in Johnnie Morant & Ronald Curry, and speedster Alvis Witted), so his trade value is almost the same as Branch's. The only thing I would worry about is, if he can't handle Art Shell, there's no way he could handle Bill Belichick. Porter is a better WR in my book, regardless of Branch's SB MVP. He's actually only a year older that Branch too.

Why have an asset like Branch hold a gun to your head, possibly sit out the whole year and, and disrupt your WR corp and team, and get nothing in return ? I know it sounds crazy, but that's what I'd do, give Branch an ultimamtum to get back to the team by the end of the week, if he say's no, trade him immediately.

 

[GraftonPatsFan]

Trade him to Oakland for Jerry Porter

 

[fgssand]

Pats should simply hold firm. At some point, Deion will have had enough and his agent calls to start the process.

We will never know exactly what the time line will be and it will be quite some time before we know the bonus & salary as well as terms and conditions.

I say all of a sudden, probably the first week in Sept. - Deion reports, agrees to play this year and a long term contract will be announced after the season is over.

BB will say how good it is to have Deion back. Deion will say how happy he is to be back. TB will tell us how happy he is to have his buddy back and we go on to beating Dallas or Seattle in Miami in Feb.

 

[sarge]

It totally depends.

Are you looking for a short term solution that will cause long term problems.

Or are you willing to excpet the short term problems for not repeating this every year.

Getting him in camp right now is great for right now, but then when every decent player we have a year from FA does the same thing, you have only yourself to blame.

I say make another contract offer. Almost as high as you are willing to go. If they come back with a counter offer, get to negotiating.

But if Branch does exactly what he is doing now, and just refuses to negotiate until you give up the franchise tag, I say give him a round trip airline ticket with a return date of game 10 and say see you then.

Then Franchise him next season on the very first day he is eligible. Try to trade him if you can.

But regardless, AT NO POINT DO YOU EVER AGREE TO NOT USE THE TAG! THAT WOULD BE ASSANINE!

 

[Zuma]

A theory brought to you by Zuma. This is the same deal as Brady. Meaning....Brady wanted more money...and Kraft didnt want to break the bank on one player. It was a smoke screen the whole time. They had an agreement done weeks earlier. They just wanted to wait for awhile and then give the appearence of Brady giving in to the FO to allow more money for the rest of the players. Its the same deal with Branch IMO. Branch will "give in" to the front office for the betterment of the team. It's all to show the youngens that if you want to be a champion...you need to sacrifice. Time to put down the bong.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

So you play without him. Remember 2001 and Terry Glenn? ("How are they going to be able to survive without their best WR?") Sound familiar?

Doesn't mean it will happen again. Lightning in a bottle.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

I don't think we're dealing with a particularly bright player-agent combo.

To me it boils down to this: Who is more likely to make more money in free agency. A player who comes in, plays all year, has a good year statistically or a player who sits on his can all year building a bad rep in the proccess?

If they want more money, the only sure path to that is to play IMO.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Pats should simply hold firm. At some point, Deion will have had enough and his agent calls to start the process.

We will never know exactly what the time line will be and it will be quite some time before we know the bonus & salary as well as terms and conditions.

I say all of a sudden, probably the first week in Sept. - Deion reports, agrees to play this year and a long term contract will be announced after the season is over.

BB will say how good it is to have Deion back. Deion will say how happy he is to be back. TB will tell us how happy he is to have his buddy back and we go on to beating Dallas or Seattle in Miami in Feb.

In a near perfect world that is about the only way he stays because he chose to hold a gun to their heads and they cannot afford to blink for a short term gain (getting him in) in light of the long term consequences (facing this scenario with increasing frequency going forward - Deion's situation after all is not unique in the NFL).

However that is a no win for him because he assumes all the risk for 2006 and if he is seriously injured he is out that $4M signing bonus and the liklihood a team stands behind him and picks up his $4M option bonus while he rehabs. If he isn't injured and they can't reach an agreement his frustration likely ends in the tag and trade.

I don't see them giving him Wayne money or more in 2007 even if he outperforms him in 2006. They have a philosophy and a unit by unit budget they are committed to. No other position player will make double figure salary on average, that is Brady's slot. No other player on the team on either side of the ball will average $8M - that is Seymour's slot. It's not just that Deion is not nearly as special a WR talent as Seymour or Brady are DL and QB. It's that WR is not a position that Belioli will over-extend themselves financially for. Ever.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Doesn't mean it will happen again. Lightning in a bottle.

It already did in 2004 when Deion missed the bulk of the season and we went 14-2 as a result.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

A theory brought to you by Zuma. This is the same deal as Brady. Meaning....Brady wanted more money...and Kraft did want to break the bank. It was a smoke screen the whole time. They had an agreement done weeks earlier. They just wanted to wait for awhile and then give the appearence of Brady giving in to the FO to allow more money for the rest of the players. Its the same deal with Branch IMO. Branch will "give in" to the front office for the betterment of the team. It's all to show the youngens that if you want to be a champion...you need to sacrifice. Time to put down the bong.

The hangup on the Brady deal was not a smokescreen. They agreed on the overall value of the deal quickly because Brady didn't ask for anything approaching Manning money (highest paid at his position). The devil was in the bonus details, and it was because they were trying to craft a deal under an expiring CBA with existing amortization from his prior deal gumming up the works.

Unfortunately this is not a pre-aranged holdout engineered to build team unity. Nice try though....

 

[SoonerPatriot]

It already did in 2004 when Deion missed the bulk of the season and we went 14-2 as a result.

Yeah, and we also had Givens who had his best year as a pro yardage wise with 874. He carried a big chunk of the load when Branch was down playing in 15 games. I'm waiting to see if Caldwell fits into the system as well as Givens did. No indication of that quite yet.

 

[Zuma]

The hangup on the Brady deal was not a smokescreen. They agreed on the overall value of the deal quickly because Brady didn't ask for anything approaching Manning money (highest paid at his position).

I guess that was my point to a degree...although I disagree that it happened quickly.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I guess that was my point to a degree...although I disagree that it happened quickly.

Kraft announced on national television in a post game Superbowl interview that he wanted to get a long term extension done with Brady provided he was amendable and didn't demand Manning money. According to articles after the deal was announced, the sides agreed to the broad parameters (6 years $60M) in one meeting. The also agreed to how much bonus ($26.5M). The team claimed Brady's side was amenable to a tiered bonus. Brady's agent claimed that 4 teirs was not nearly what they were expecting. It got worked out within a week or two of the article that detailed the hangup. Much of the problem was rules under the expiring CBA limited the way salary and bonus could be handled with Deion and 30% rules in effect. The deal was officially announced the day of the Kentucky Derby in early May. So 3 months start to finish. They've been at it with Branch now for 15 months.

 

[flutie2phelan]

The hangup on the Brady deal was not a smokescreen. They agreed on the overall value of the deal quickly because Brady didn't ask for anything approaching Manning money (highest paid at his position). The devil was in the bonus details, and it was because they were trying to craft a deal under an expiring CBA with existing amortization from his prior deal gumming up the works.

Unfortunately this is not a pre-aranged holdout engineered to build team unity. Nice try though....

No, Mo ... i think Zuma is on to something.
Bizarre as it may seem, Z Theory accounts for a lot of the inexplicables.

We all believe that BB is resigned to holding a delicate player out of preseason contact and games.
But Z Theory also explains ... contempt for a fair offer ... Chayut not even countering said offer
... the demand for Unconditional Surrender on the franchise tag ... floating rumors of the player's extravagant self-valuation ...
and even the team leader's glowing words about the player.

It would take an ultimate team player to buy into such an exemplary charade!
Perhaps ... just maybe ... that's what Deion really is.

Z Theory may not make A LOT OF sense ...
but what else makes any sense at all of Branch's stance ?