We don't play the media game, but at the same time we have to cooperate with the media as an organization on some level. It's part of the price of being relevant, which was the Kraft's goal when they acquired the team - making it relevant. Jonathan does a pre game segment every week and he's pretty open and up front and answers questions tactfully (as tactfully as he can given the morons he's often dealing with like Felger don't want to hear or acknowledge the truth because it isn't controversial enough). This has nothing to do with Bill and I doubt he'd take issue with anything Jonathan said. Pioli used to be more forthcoming than Bill in exactly these settings, that's part of the deal. Coach ain't giving you much day to day because he's wearing his coaches hat. Ownership will set the record straight from time to time as needed. Mankins either mis spoke or was lied to. Fans and media covering this team have a right to know that is ownerships stand since it was ownership who was called out publicly by this player. Nothing Jonathan said made Bill's job any harder. In fact it might have made it easier. I've heard the disconnect characterized in the past as the player has no issues with Bill, talks to him (or did over the off season). Perhaps he's convinced himself that the organization that set a value on him wasn't doing so under Bill's direction...that Bill would love to overpay him but the dispicable Krafts won't hear of it... That's never been the way it works here. The organization sets a budget, as they all do (even including the Redskins according to their former cap guru) based on operating revenue projections. Then the FO which Bill heads here decides how it wants to divide that budget among units and individual players. Bill could have extended him any time he wanted to. Apparently he didn't want to for whatever reason in 2008 and 2009.
Mankins playing the coach loves me, I love playing for coach, everyone knows how significant a player I am so the owner must be a liar card was BS. I think it's generous of the Kraft family via Jonathan to make it clear at this juncture that they liked the player and feel bad about what has transpired and are assuming he was somehow misled. Gives him his public way out unless he's too stupid to grasp that even now.