Former Patriots Guard Logan Mankins Mulling Retirement

[Off The Grid]

I always loved the guy, right from the moment we drafted'm!! Mind you, though, I'm not gonna lie: Back in 2005, my Draft knowledge was infantile, to say the least: I loved that Pick based entirely on two things: First, on the fact that we were getting a Trench Gorilla, and second...on that awesome name of his!!

With a name like Logan Mankins, you just knew he was gonna be a Beast!!



Lo-o-o-o-o-ogan.

Ma-n-n-n-nkins.

 

[borg]

I don't like how he's handled contract negotiations, but gotta respect him at a minimum.

I don't understand this sentiment. Sure, it's in the team's best interest to sign players to below market contracts....but it's certainly not in the player's best interest. When you are a perennial Pro Bowler, when you know your market value, when you believe your team did not live up to its word regarding renegotiation after the labor deal.......you take your leverage and you use your leverage. Players like Devon McCourty are likely very grateful that Mankins and Wilfork proved they can use your leverage and get their desired contract and still remain a NE Patriot.
Great player, played injured, felt betrayed by the organization, used his leverage. Always seemed like a meat and potatoes / black and white / cut and dried / right and wrong type of guy that sticks to principle.......John Wayne.
In this example, maybe we should be saying "I don't like the way the Patriots handled contract negotiations"....because in the end, they paid the guy . To me....that speaks volumes. NE strung him along for two years trying to soften him up......and Mr. Meat and Potatoes stuck to his guns.......Pilgrim

 

[BradyFTW!]

I don't understand this sentiment. Sure, it's in the team's best interest to sign players to below market contracts....but it's certainly not in the player's best interest. When you are a perennial Pro Bowler, when you know your market value, when you believe your team did not live up to its word regarding renegotiation after the labor deal.......you take your leverage and you use your leverage. Players like Devon McCourty are likely very grateful that Mankins and Wilfork proved they can use your leverage and get their desired contract and still remain a NE Patriot.
Great player, played injured, felt betrayed by the organization, used his leverage. Always seemed like a meat and potatoes / black and white / cut and dried / right and wrong type of guy that sticks to principle.......John Wayne.
In this example, maybe we should be saying "I don't like the way the Patriots handled contract negotiations"....because in the end, they paid the guy . To me....that speaks volumes. NE strung him along for two years trying to soften him up......and Mr. Meat and Potatoes stuck to his guns.......Pilgrim

I'm not a fan of holdouts in general, although I understand that players have little leverage in contract negotiations and have to use what they have. If you want to hold out to demand your market value then that's fine. If you want to feel undervalued and pissed off throughout the negotiation, then that's fine too. What isn't fine, and what I have absolutely no respect for on any level, is publicly airing dirty laundry to try to force someone else's hand in negotiations.

That's ********, plain and simple, and to stick to your own analogy I'm pretty sure John Wayne wouldn't have done that. He would've privately made damn sure the Patriots knew where he stood, he wouldn't have given an inch, and he would have held out until he got what he thought was warranted, but that would have been it. No crying to the media about how betrayed and undervalued and disrespected he felt. And yes, if the same thing had happened in reverse, I'd think less of the Patriots. But the reverse equivalence would be the team publicly insulting him and calling out the ways in which he hasn't lived up to their expectations, which of course they would never do because--among many other reasons--they're simply better than that.

The holdout isn't the issue for me. Players have their own interests to look out for, and a very short and uncertain career window in which to make a lifetime's worth of earnings from organizations that have no loyalty to them. So I get the whole 'mercenary' outlook, and will never begrudge a player for thinking that way, although I think taken to an extreme it can be pretty shortsighted and self-fulfilling. Mankins didn't choose to be a Patriot, and he didn't owe them anything. I think we're probably on the same page there, and even if I was otherwise inclined to hold that against him, the way he played through injuries would trump that anyway.

The sticking point for me is how he conducted himself during the holdout, which IMO was totally unacceptable because of how unprofessional it was. As a result I lost some respect for him as a person, although I still respect the hell out of him as a player (and for the most part as a person, since it takes a certain kind of guy to play through a torn ACL).

 

[RxJock1120]

Has to retire as a Patriot, wouldn't be right any other way.

 

[Kontradiction]

I'm not a fan of holdouts in general, although I understand that players have little leverage in contract negotiations and have to use what they have. If you want to hold out to demand your market value then that's fine. If you want to feel undervalued and pissed off throughout the negotiation, then that's fine too. What isn't fine, and what I have absolutely no respect for on any level, is publicly airing dirty laundry to try to force someone else's hand in negotiations.

That's ********, plain and simple, and to stick to your own analogy I'm pretty sure John Wayne wouldn't have done that. He would've privately made damn sure the Patriots knew where he stood, he wouldn't have given an inch, and he would have held out until he got what he thought was warranted, but that would have been it. No crying to the media about how betrayed and undervalued and disrespected he felt. And yes, if the same thing had happened in reverse, I'd think less of the Patriots. But the reverse equivalence would be the team publicly insulting him and calling out the ways in which he hasn't lived up to their expectations, which of course they would never do because--among many other reasons--they're simply better than that.

The holdout isn't the issue for me. Players have their own interests to look out for, and a very short and uncertain career window in which to make a lifetime's worth of earnings from organizations that have no loyalty to them. So I get the whole 'mercenary' outlook, and will never begrudge a player for thinking that way, although I think taken to an extreme it can be pretty shortsighted and self-fulfilling. Mankins didn't choose to be a Patriot, and he didn't owe them anything. I think we're probably on the same page there, and even if I was otherwise inclined to hold that against him, the way he played through injuries would trump that anyway.

The sticking point for me is how he conducted himself during the holdout, which IMO was totally unacceptable because of how unprofessional it was. As a result I lost some respect for him as a person, although I still respect the hell out of him as a player (and for the most part as a person, since it takes a certain kind of guy to play through a torn ACL).

It's a man's livelihood. Things are going to get nasty from time to time. The Pats didn't seem to mind all that much as they got a deal done with him and they made up. Water under the bridge.

As for Mankins, best of luck to him. I appreciate everything he did for the franchise.

 

[RayClay]

Tough guy. Always held out for top dollar forcing his release. Called the ownership liars. Retires as a Buc.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I'm surprised that his family still lives here; he struck me as the type whose favorite memories of NE
would be seeing it in his pickup truck's rear-view mirror at the end of every season.
And I would be absolutely shocked if he ever returned to play here. His relationship with Bill didn't
exactly end very well.

It didn't, but I think after time, players appreciate BB's honesty with them. He never sugar-coats it, he never tells them what they want to hear.

That's why Seymour recommended us to Tommie Kelly. And why Twiggy eventually came back and contributed. And why Spikes got a second chance, although he ended up blowing it.

BB understands the business side, and none of it was personal. Mankins could have taken a ton of shots at management on the way out but didn't. He was a pro every day he was here. BB has a ton of respect for him as a player, they just couldn't agree on a number. If they can, I think he'd be happy to have him here.

 

[Gronkowski123]

Tough guy. Always held out for top dollar forcing his release. Called the ownership liars. Retires as a Buc.

if only more players called out our gutless owners.

sucks that logan never won a SB...still one of my all time favorite pats.

 

[Deus Irae]

I don't understand this sentiment. Sure, it's in the team's best interest to sign players to below market contracts....but it's certainly not in the player's best interest. When you are a perennial Pro Bowler, when you know your market value, when you believe your team did not live up to its word regarding renegotiation after the labor deal.......you take your leverage and you use your leverage. Players like Devon McCourty are likely very grateful that Mankins and Wilfork proved they can use your leverage and get their desired contract and still remain a NE Patriot.
Great player, played injured, felt betrayed by the organization, used his leverage. Always seemed like a meat and potatoes / black and white / cut and dried / right and wrong type of guy that sticks to principle.......John Wayne.
In this example, maybe we should be saying "I don't like the way the Patriots handled contract negotiations"....because in the end, they paid the guy . To me....that speaks volumes. NE strung him along for two years trying to soften him up......and Mr. Meat and Potatoes stuck to his guns.......Pilgrim

People will almost always take the side of the owners on this because people are selfish when it comes to their teams.

 

[Off The Grid]

It didn't, but I think after time, players appreciate BB's honesty with them. He never sugar-coats it, he never tells them what they want to hear.

That's why Seymour recommended us to Tommie Kelly. And why Twiggy eventually came back and contributed. And why Spikes got a second chance, although he ended up blowing it.

BB understands the business side, and none of it was personal. Mankins could have taken a ton of shots at management on the way out but didn't. He was a pro every day he was here. BB has a ton of respect for him as a player, they just couldn't agree on a number. If they can, I think he'd be happy to have him here.

Twiggy?

 

[aloyouis]

Very good player for a long time here. I usually don't hold it against a player when they ask for the money. The team can say no and heavens knows the Pats will say no. It is a two way street. I believe BB sees it that way too.

Open arms for the Pats HOF and if he can help the O-Line/Team next year at the right price, open arms for that as well. If not, I wouldn't mind hearing his brutally honest thoughts on some program going forward.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Twiggy?

Sorry, Branch. Guess that nickname isn't as widely adopted as I had thought. Maybe it's just me...