Seymour "I was blindsided" (merged)

[alamo]

Re: Seymour 'I was blindsided'

It's all speculation, but I don't think you get a 5-day warning letter if you've established a clear and amicable understanding that you just need a couple of days to sort out your family's move. Not to mention asking your union to file a grievance.

I agree with the first part being Seymour, but I won't go so far as to put responsibility for the grievance on him. More probable to me is he just didn't move to quash it when others decided to file. Both his agent and the union have their own agendas.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

There is the possibility the Raiders sent the letter as a formality to cover their butts. If they heard Seymour saying he wasn't sure what he was going to do - short term- they almost had to send the 5 day letter to be sure they didn't get stuck with a guy that decided he wasn't coming. The Raiders had no way to be sure Seymour was being square with them, they had to go by the cut and dried fact that they had traded for guy who hadn't reported in a timely fashion. So, Seymour may be telling the truth about telling the Raiders he was ready to play for them after he got things straight. I mean, if you hear a guy say football's not the most important thing right now, as the Raiders surely heard along everything else, then it would be prudent to take any necessary steps to protect your franchise.

Borges is a skunk for playing up the innuendo that Seymour was pissed because BB called him instead of what? Taking a limo with Daddy Bob to Richard's house and banging on the door with a box of candy? Or maybe it would have gone better to let Big Sey walk into the locker room and then call him over in front of all his teammates and drop the Raiders bomb on him there? Borges is a Patriots hating snake, what a waste of talent...

 

[satz]

He is going to a half decent defence and more importantly where no one is going to tell him to play to a game plan and not stats.

I have a feeling his stats are going to better than the 8 sack here and fans here going crazy.

satz

 

[mayoclinic]

He is going to a half decent defence and more importantly where no one is going to tell him to play to a game plan and not stats.

I have a feeling his stats are going to better than the 8 sack here and fans here going crazy.

satz

He may well put up some big numbers, and then bolt for FA. That's part of the beauty of it - our 2011 draft pick won't be affected by Seymour's 2009 performance. By 2010 he'll probably be elsewhere, or else back to his old habits having gotten a multiyear deal from Oakland, and it will be a different story.

 

[mgteich]

I would note that oakland might franchise Seymour (will he be labeled a DT?). He also may sign a 3-year, no franchise in the 4th, contract with oakland. Also, I don't think Seymour dislikes the oakland franchise anywhere near as much as raider-hater rodney would like to us to believe. Seymour's family will have no trouble going back to rooting for the raiders as they did before he came to the patriots.

I guess I should go to a Seymour rally when he comes home His hometown is less than two hours from me. I presume that is where is family is moving to.

He may well put up some big numbers, and then bolt for FA. That's part of the beauty of it - our 2011 draft pick won't be affected by Seymour's 2009 performance. By 2010 he'll probably be elsewhere, or else back to his old habits having gotten a multiyear deal from Oakland, and it will be a different story.

 

[Ring 6]

I would note that oakland might franchise Seymour (will he be labeled a DT?). He also may sign a 3-year, no franchise in the 4th, contract with oakland. Also, I don't think Seymour dislikes the oakland franchise anywhere near as much as raider-hater rodney would like to us to believe. Seymour's family will have no trouble going back to rooting for the raiders as they did before he came to the patriots.

I guess I should go to a Seymour rally when he comes home His hometown is less than two hours from me. I presume that is where is family is moving to.

Regardless of the way it ended, as fans we are indebted to Seymours contribution to 3 SB Titles and the best season ever than didnt end with one.
Let me know when the rally is, I'll be there too.
Behind Brady, Richard Seymour has contributed the most to the success of this franchise, among players. In those years he was our 2nd best player.

 

[mayoclinic]

Regardless of the way it ended, as fans we are indebted to Seymours contribution to 3 SB Titles and the best season ever than didnt end with one.
Let me know when the rally is, I'll be there too.
Behind Brady, Richard Seymour has contributed the most to the success of this franchise, among players. In those years he was our 2nd best player.

Can't argue with that.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I've got no problem with Seymour being pissed that he had to shuffle his familie's life around... but it was his choice to play hardball in negotiations, and he's always understood the risks of the NFL lifestyle... i.e. - yes, you can be traded!

But if that's all it were his agent would have issued a statement - and the team he was in "constant contact" with wouldn't have issued a 5 day letter.

So there's more to this than Seymour's story but I don't really care at this point.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Re: Seymour 'I was blindsided'

I agree with the first part being Seymour, but I won't go so far as to put responsibility for the grievance on him. More probable to me is he just didn't move to quash it when others decided to file. Both his agent and the union have their own agendas.

i don't think Seymour was a saint in this, but I also don't get all the bashing of Seymour here to the point where i'm uncomfortable with the characterizations of a guy who meant a lot to this franchise in that great run we all remember so well.

i don't claim to have everything figured out, but a lot of what went down had to do, as you suggest, with the agenda of the parties to the conflict/disagreement/whatever and some of it had to do with doing business in the NFL. i might change a point of emphasis or two, but otherwise i stand by what i wrote earlier. when a lot of money (and in this case a #1 Draft Pick) are in play, people tend to do everything they have to do to protect their self interest.

none of us really knows what happened and there is a whole range of motivations on both sides that could reasonably explain the sending of the letter and the filing of the grievance.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Regardless of the way it ended, as fans we are indebted to Seymours contribution to 3 SB Titles and the best season ever than didnt end with one.
Let me know when the rally is, I'll be there too.
Behind Brady, Richard Seymour has contributed the most to the success of this franchise, among players. In those years he was our 2nd best player.

Amen.

1010

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Re: Seymour 'I was blindsided'

tee hee!

that's helpful.

you have absolutely no way of knowing what really went down here. the gratuitous bashing of a guy who helped put the hardware in Foxboro and who helped define that great run ticks me off.

as i said above, richard was no doubt not a saint here and maybe could have handled things better (remember, beyond our speculation, we have no idea how he really handled this), but there are a whole range of motivations and interests that could have resulted in things unfolding the way they did.

trashing a guy who did great things for the patriots when none of us knows all the facts frosts me. i stand by what i wrote.

 

[mayoclinic]

Re: Seymour 'I was blindsided'

that's helpful.

you have absolutely no way of knowing what really went down here. the gratuitous bashing of a guy who helped put the hardware in Foxboro and who helped define that great run ticks me off.

as i said above, richard was no doubt not a saint here and maybe could have handled things better (remember, beyond our speculation, we have no idea how he really handled this), but there are a whole range of motivations and interests that could have resulted in things unfolding the way they did.

trashing a guy who did great things for the patriots when none of us knows all the facts frosts me. i stand by what i wrote.

Give me a break.

I've acknowledged that Seymour was the 2nd most important Patriot after Brady in terms of bringing 3 Lombardi trophies to Foxboro. I've applauded him for his contributions. I've acknowledged that he will be a loss for the DL for 2009, the magnitude of which is not known at this point.

But don't gloss over the other side of things. He's been a crybaby and a malcontent at times before. That fact that the Pats were willing to trade him suggests that patience with his antics had worn thin at Foxboro. The fact that Oakland had to send out the 5 day letter strongly suggests that Seymour had not been in communication with them about simply needing a few days to resolve family issues. And the fact that his side of the story was published by his buddy Borges doesn't lend a lot of credibility to the story.

You're right, we'll probably never know exactly what transpired. But it's not "bashing" a guy to call him out when he acts like a spoiled brat, while at the same time acknowledging his greatness as a player.

If you want to remember Seymour with rose colored glasses, fine. But don't bash others because they aren't willing to buy into the hype.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Re: Seymour 'I was blindsided'

Give me a break.

I've acknowledged that Seymour was the 2nd most important Patriot after Brady in terms of bringing 3 Lombardi trophies to Foxboro. I've applauded him for his contributions. I've acknowledged that he will be a loss for the DL for 2009, the magnitude of which is not known at this point.

But don't gloss over the other side of things. He's been a crybaby and a malcontent at times before. That fact that the Pats were willing to trade him suggests that patience with his antics had worn thin at Foxboro. The fact that Oakland had to send out the 5 day letter strongly suggests that Seymour had not been in communication with them about simply needing a few days to resolve family issues. And the fact that his side of the story was published by his buddy Borges doesn't lend a lot of credibility to the story.

You're right, we'll probably never know exactly what transpired. But it's not "bashing" a guy to call him out when he acts like a spoiled brat, while at the same time acknowledging his greatness as a player.

If you want to remember Seymour with rose colored glasses, fine. But don't bash others because they aren't willing to buy into the hype.

before it was announced that Seymour was reporting, i actually made a couple of posts in another thread that were very critical of Richard, so I don't have rose colored glasses on this one. after it came out that he was indeed reporting, i'll admit that i reacted strongly to what i thought were some gratuitous swipes at the guy. didn't mean to question the motives of yourself or anyone. if you took it that way, i apologize.

when i reviewed the history of the facts that we did have prior to that announcement, Rodney's comments stand large. but, we have to remember that Number 37 has no love lost for a team that basically told him he was "done," so i think we have to take what he said with a grain of salt.

all we know about the letter and the grievance also come to us second hand. i'm not disputing that they were both issued, but my only point in their regard was that there are a range of explanations for their issuance that go beyond some of the hypothetical scenarios, assuming the worst of Seymour, that have been posited here. as i said in another post, i've decided to give him the benefit of the doubt; however, i can see how others could reasonably decide not to do that. I was reacting to the negative tone as much as to anything else.

time to focus on the season and whip the Jills.

 

[mayoclinic]

Re: Seymour 'I was blindsided'

time to focus on the season and whip the Jills.

Good enough, brother.