NEW ARTICLE: Patriots News 11-19, Bye Week Musings

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Patriots News 11-19, Bye Week Musings
Steve Balestrieri
But if this had been the Patriots with Brady at QB, this would have been all over the network news.

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[captain stone]

"Could the Patriots pull the rug out from Mayo after convincing him to remain? You betcha. If they did it to Tom Brady, they can do it to Mayo. A few years ago, I reported here that the Patriots had a three-year deal to keep Brady in New England. And that it was the Krafts, NOT Belichick, who pulled the deal, opting to go year-to-year.
"I had spoken to a friend of the Bradys, who revealed this information. Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston confirmed this and added that Robert Kraft made Belichick break the news to Brady...."

- Wow. This is the first time I've heard of this... I mean, WOW. If true, then this changes my opinion of, and faith going forward in, ownership... And I ass-ure you, Not for the better.


Bimbos gonna bimbo, black and white.

And one way to improve the offense would've been by taking the ball Out of the QB's hands on 3rd/2 or less and simply letting Zeke & Rham wild-cat their way to 1st downs... I mean that should've been obvious weeks ago.

 

[captain stone]

EDIT - Forgot to include this with my post, but condolences for the loss of your bro. The world needs more dudes like him, not fewer of them.

 

[Ross12]

@Ian I actually saw this article taking off on Reddit, the paragraph @captain stone quotes above specifically being the hot-button item.

I personally do find it interesting. Not sure if I believe it but I could see it. Bill would keep it quiet and take the blame, but if he did want to keep Brady and Kraft said no, that really kind of changes the equation as far as Bill's last few years in NE. It also brings to light questions about the handling of Mac - if Kraft told Bill he couldn't keep Tom, then did Kraft also tell Bill he had to keep Mac? Did Kraft force Bill to draft Mac in the first place instead of Micah Parsons? Is Kraft cheap after all, is Bill constrained in how much cash he can spend? How deep does it go?

If Kraft got out front and said he was the one who made the call with Tom and he has been more influential in recent major decisions than people realize, I think folks would soften up significantly to keeping Bill around a few more years. But it also shines a negative spotlight on ownership. That said, if ownership IS a problem and Bill ISN'T, then when Bill leaves and presumably is successful elsewhere, then who's to say that Bill's replacement will be successful under the same issues with ownership that Bill would have been facing? It's all hypothetical but concerning if true.

 

[Ian]

@Ian I actually saw this article taking off on Reddit, the paragraph @captain stone quotes above specifically being the hot-button item.

I personally do find it interesting. Not sure if I believe it but I could see it. Bill would keep it quiet and take the blame, but if he did want to keep Brady and Kraft said no, that really kind of changes the equation as far as Bill's last few years in NE. It also brings to light questions about the handling of Mac - if Kraft told Bill he couldn't keep Tom, then did Kraft also tell Bill he had to keep Mac? Did Kraft force Bill to draft Mac in the first place instead of Micah Parsons? Is Kraft cheap after all, is Bill constrained in how much cash he can spend? How deep does it go?

If Kraft got out front and said he was the one who made the call with Tom and he has been more influential in recent major decisions than people realize, I think folks would soften up significantly to keeping Bill around a few more years. But it also shines a negative spotlight on ownership. That said, if ownership IS a problem and Bill ISN'T, then when Bill leaves and presumably is successful elsewhere, then who's to say that Bill's replacement will be successful under the same issues with ownership that Bill would have been facing? It's all hypothetical but concerning if true.

It's sort of interesting - especially given some of his comments recently sort of defending himself when it comes to personnel.

I remember having the conversation with Steve at the time pertaining to the Brady part about this and thought it was strange they wouldn't structure something to extend him, with the guaranteed money likely being the issue. But as far as drafting decisions, that I don't know. Albeit the opportunity was there to grab Mac, and he was a guy I know they were high on based on Bill's relationship with Saban and Jones' football IQ. So I don't think Bill was necessarily against that and likely saw it as a good opportunity to get back into it.

As far as other spots (receiver, etc.), the one thing I question, given the requirements when it comes to signing bonuses (which have to be escrowed) is maybe that's a sticking point. Again, just speculating, but Bill's comments as of late make me wonder about that.

 

[Ross12]

It's sort of interesting - especially given some of his comments recently sort of defending himself when it comes to personnel.

I remember having the conversation with Steve at the time pertaining to the Brady part about this and thought it was strange they wouldn't structure something to extend him, with the guaranteed money likely being the issue. But as far as drafting decisions, that I don't know. Albeit the opportunity was there to grab Mac, and he was a guy I know they were high on based on Bill's relationship with Saban and Jones' football IQ. So I don't think Bill was necessarily against that and likely saw it as a good opportunity to get back into it.

As far as other spots (receiver, etc.), the one thing I question, given the requirements when it comes to signing bonuses (which have to be escrowed) is maybe that's a sticking point. Again, just speculating, but Bill's comments as of late make me wonder about that.

Yeah there has been a bit of a back-and-forth this year. I also remember the weird period where Kraft was talking about how he wishes we had Lamar Jackson when he tagged and could be signed to an offer sheet and that Lamar wanted to be a Patriot but that it was "up to Bill." Then you had comments from Bill weeks later about low cash spending, and more recent comments about how he has a lot of help and he doesn't do as much as people think.

It seems like Kraft has been making an effort to say "it's all Bill" and Bill has been making an effort to say "it's not as much on me as you guys think, money is a factor, hint hint."

Maybe I am just being anxious but part of me wonders, if it was Kraft's doing, if he booted the GOAT QB, made the GOAT HC take the fall for it, and now is going to boot the GOAT HC as well... and what would we be left with?

 

[captain stone]

So is the reason for the decision to try to pay Brady on a year-by-year basis instead of a 3-year, mostly (I ass-ume) guaranteed contract strictly so that ownership wouldn't have to sign that large a check?

Does this also mean that ownership had more to do with the Phatt Matt & Judge Joey ass-ignments last year than we might've guessed?

 

[Ross12]

So is the reason for the decision to try to pay Brady on a year-by-year basis instead of a 3-year, mostly (I ass-ume) guaranteed contract strictly so that ownership wouldn't have to sign that large a check?

Does this also mean that ownership had more to do with the Phatt Matt & Judge Joey ass-ignments last year than we might've guessed?

“Don’t go find a new OC Bill, can’t afford one after you spent all that cash in 2021. Yikes! Just use Patricia for free. He can probably figure it out, right? And lay off on the spending for a few years!”

 

[captain stone]

“Don’t go find a new OC Bill, can’t afford one after you spent all that cash in 2021. Yikes! Just use Patricia for free. He can probably figure it out, right? And lay off on the spending for a few years!”

It would bode very ill indeed for the future of this franchise if anything even close to resembling this conversation ever took place.