Shalise Manza Young of the Globe has reported that the Patriots offered Waters $4 million to end, well, you can't call it a holdout exactly, more like going off the football grid, during training camp. This report has been denigrated by talk show hosts who used to be reporters and therefore ought to be ashamed of themselves (talk about oxymorons!) because they used to be reporters on the grounds the Patriots leaked the story to make themselves look good.
Earth to talk radio. If the story was a lie, then Waters' agent would have been on every media outlet this side of Chinese wire service Xinhua denouncing it as such. This naivete is sad but unsurprising. Michael Felger and sidekick Tony Massarotti, my old colleagues who I probably still like but no longer respect, are proof of Damon Runyon's adage that "nobody's easier to bull**** than a bull**** artist."
Let me suggest an alternative scenario for Water's Howard Hughes impersonation. The logic part of his brain has come to the conclusion he should retire from football. The emotional part (the much bigger part, as it is for us all) is torn. Football is addictive. Why not let the Patriots, renowned as the most unsentimental of franchises in these matters, put the offer on the table to adjudicate the decision?
Waters got an offer that was flattering by any assessment. And he didn't take it. The logical conclusion is there was no offer he'd have taken. He's done. He just wanted an outside assessment of how much he had left.
