Robert Kraft blasts Welker's agent

[Gronkandez]

And that was after Belichick's Baghdad Bob = Tom E Curran smeared Lloyd with his "the guy is really weird and the team is tired of him" story.
Huh, I thought Josh McDaniel worked with Lloyd in the past and recommended Lloyd to Belichick.
I guess being a Patriot is what changed Brandon.

Yeah, only the Red Sox smear players with media whisper campaigns eh??

There were rumblings about Lloyd being mooding before he got here. Nevertheless, I also thought it was strange that that stuff came out about him in Currans article.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Re: Kraft is just killing Wes's agent right now

Ouch. Good for Kraft - I like this side of him.

Even if I'm ultimately disappointed in how everything transpired, and am sure he's spinning facts his way a little, too, I love seeing him come out strong and defend himself, the team and the organization.

I only wish he had done it back when Spygate broke.

Agree in general, but would be happier if they kept quiet on this but had defended themselves more vigorously in 2007/08.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

There were rumblings about Lloyd being mooding before he got here. Nevertheless, I also thought it was strange that that stuff came out about him in Currans article.

Exactly!! Lloyd's personality was well known to Josh McDaniel before he came here.

 

[Gronkandez]

I HATE how much impact that these stupid agents seem to have on where players go.

Why is it that when a player takes a hometown discount, the player gets the credit, but when a player wants to go for top dollar it's the Agent's fault? It's possible that the Agent convinced Welker he shouldn't take those Pats deals but it's just as likely that Welker himself made the decision. It's ultimately the Player's call.

 

[Rob0729]

I still agree with Bedard that the truth is somewhere between the Pats and Welker's position on what went down. My guess is that both sides did a lot of right and a lot of wrong.

People will come down on whatever side they usually come in on when it comes to whether you side with the Pats or the player. Unfortunately, none of us are going to know what really went down. We will just believe who we want to believe.

One thing I do know for sure is that Kraft feels pretty burned. He clearly put himself on the line on wanting to bring Welker back and he feels the agent screwed up the process. He typically doesn't talk about failed negotiations like this personally. Now the question is whether he just doesn't know the whole situation or his side of the story has more truth than some want to believe.

I personally believe that for the most part, Kraft's side of the story is what he believed happened. The one thing I don't know is that what happened or what his perception of what happened is. I doubt he was actively involved in the entire process.

 

[Clonamery]

The organization had several to do the right thing by Welker. It chose not to. Kraft knows this and is just doing damage control. The Patriots apologists will buy the nonsense, and that's all it takes to keep sales brisk.

Takes two to tangle. Get your head out of the player's ass.

 

[BSR]

The organization had several to do the right thing by Welker. It chose not to. Kraft knows this and is just doing damage control. The Patriots apologists will buy the nonsense, and that's all it takes to keep sales brisk.

As opposed to believing the agent that no offer was ever made? I think anyone that thinks they really know the whole story is being swayed by agenda. You don't have this type of disconnect about what actually happened unless screw ups were made, and probably by both sides.

 

[BSR]

Or Bob could have called WW one day earlier instead of quickly moving on to plan B. Must be nice to make definitive statements after the fact. But at least NE saved a million. Bob can put that in the win column

Yes the Patriots saved so much money signing Amendola to a $32million contract as opposed to signing Welker to a $12million contract.

 

[Ivan]

Takes two to tangle. Get your head out of the player's ass.

Well he won't be able to put it up Kraft's because your head is so far up there that there isn't any room left.

 

[PatsFanStnfrd]

Here are Kraft's full comments on wes welker in context. Kraft: Welker was our first choice - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

Here is a key statement:

"The last offer we made him, and we were willing to go up from that, was greater – he would have gotten $8 million the first year from us. In this deal he accepted, he’s getting $6 million. He counts $4 million against the cap up in Denver and he’ll account $8 million next year. In another year, when it’s going to be a tight cap, that’s a lot of money. I don’t know. We, in fact, offered him a better deal.”

So the Amendola era begins. And Agent Dunn won't be attending Thanksgiving game in Kraft's box again.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

The Patriots apologists will buy the nonsense, and that's all it takes to keep sales brisk.

If one side relies on the words of Kraft while the other side relies on Borges and Felger,

my opinion is that Kraft's words are less nonsensical by a whole lot.

I'm not any KoolAid drinker and I'm still steamed that Wes is gone, but guys like Borges and Felger are proven agenda-driven liars.

 

[JMC00]

Yes the Patriots saved so much money signing Amendola to a $32million contract as opposed to signing Welker to a $12million contract.

But Welker was never gonna sign for a $12 million dollar contract. Because if he was he would have taken the offer the Pats gave him last year.

 

[Run DMC]

I wouldn't think this was personal if there wasn't a history with WW and BB. Like the "foot joke" benching and Wes saying he liked "sticking it in BB's face".

BTW, why is no mentioning the Sanders farce which was trying to force down Lloyd's already low(by league standards)salary? Not to mention the full disinfo mode that is in play presently on him.
This coach and owner plays rough and every player in the NFL knows it at this point. The sky is blue, the sun is yellow, and Bob Kraft is a cheap New England skinflint. I should know as I am also a cheap New England skinflint.

 

[Danger Zone]

Well he won't be able to put it up Kraft's because your head is so far up there that there isn't any room left.

Shouldn't you be on the Bronco's forums railing about how they dont appreciate Welker enough?

Im sorry. I will and always will believe Kraft over any sports agent. Always. Worst case scenario is that he believes he is telling the truth but is mistaken or misled.

 

[Ivan]

Kraft might be full of crap but the way things shook out and what heard prior to Krafts statements all fit with what Kraft said.

I am not sure what the 6 year period has to do with anything the pats had an idea of his market and it was in line with what he actually signed. Those are facts and have little to do with what kraft said and to me is all that really matters.

To me the only thing in this whole situation you can fault the Patriots over is moving on so quickly. Sounds like if they waited one more day and risked not getting DA that would have got the better player in Wes. But that is a hindsight criticicism as they could have lost out on both doing that.

Apparently production only matters when it works in the team's favor. Welker's production was off the charts but they wanted to pay him like Chad 16 REC Ochocinco. What I fault the team for is never making him a good offer, and then getting pissed off at him for taking the tag money, which is what Curran claimed caused the acrimony from the Patriots.

Personally I had moved on from this and was focused on next year's team, unfortunately the Welker haters in this forum are incapable of letting it go and after having spent over 2 years trashing him now want to do a couple more years of post mortem trashing. They even defend burning his jerseys as though he was some traitor who deserted them, when in fact they drove him out of town by treating him like crap.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Amendola didn't get 32 Million. He got ~28 for 5 years. Thus less per year than WW in Denver if both play out their contracts and less by a lot than WW supposedly turned down before going on the open market.

When you go on the open market then all sides need to cover their bases. Youi can't wait for WW to ask you to match before going to plan B, even if plan B is less appealing, because you can lose out on both plans A and B by waiting.

 

[flasox27]

I have to side with Kraft on this issue. Too bad Welker's agent didn't gauge the market correctly during the legal tampering period. Then he would have seen that the Pats offer was realistic and we wouldn't be discussing it now. BB and the Pats were not going to be caught without a receiver like 2006 when Branch bolted and Wes should have known it. Just a thought, does anybody think that if Welker had made a couple of clutch catches instead of disasterous drops, the outcome would have been different.

 

[Jackson 2]

You should seriously stop posting because you sound dumber with each letter you type.

Kraft the cheap bastard that kept the Pats in NE when no one would step up and buy the team to keep them in NE. The cheap bastard that gave Drew Bledsoe the largest contract in NFL history at that point, the first 100 mil deal. The same cheap bastard that paid the full rookie contract of his former 1st round draft pick that blew out his knee in a stupid rookie flag football game played on the beach in sand? Is that the cheap bastard you are talking about?

I wonder if Seymour, Logan and Vince think he is a cheap bastard?

And the "cheap bastard" who built a state-of-the-art stadium with his own dough...

 

[Ivan]

Shouldn't you be on the Bronco's forums railing about how they dont appreciate Welker enough?

Im sorry. I will and always will believe Kraft over any sports agent. Always. Worst case scenario is that he believes he is telling the truth but is mistaken or misled.

As I said, I had moved on from this and was focused on next years team,and anyone who has read my posts over the last week knows that, it is the Welker haters who are keeping this going. They want to talk sh.t and then scream and cry when there is any rebuttal to their bullsh.t. In the two plus years this has been going on i haven't started a single thread on it, on the other hand the Welker haters have started dozens and dozens. If you guys want it to stop then simply shut up about it and move on.

 

[JackBauer]

BTW, why is no mentioning the Sanders farce which was trying to force down Lloyd's already low(by league standards)salary?

Do you have a link for this?

Thanks!!