Patriots Rumor ESPN hitpiece on Patriots (Rift with Brady/Belichick/Kraft) - Merged

[Ross12]

Thank you Jeff.

BREAKING: Brady complained to "Patriots staffer" that Belichick has not once given him an award which does not exist and thus has never been awarded to anyone.

 

[Tony2046]

BS dude. If you were in Mike Reiss' shoes you wouldn't leave either.

 

[maineman209]

Does Seth work for ESPN or Disney?

Considering how much of the piece is total fantasy . . .

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

The piece that Curran posted was just plain factual. Yes, he observed that a 40 year old QB, coach pushing 70 and owner pushing 80 are probably near the end of their run. I mean... yeah? That's kinda common sense. It's worth writing, sure, but it's not exactly breaking info. I don't see that being his version of the Wickersham piece at all, because it doesn't allege much of anything.

I mostly agree with you! However, I stand by my statement that Curran's piece was his own version (take? analysis?) on the state of the franchise, which view always must start with Brady and Belichick. Curran himself cited it as a similar piece to Wickersham's. Curran's piece asserts facts, which is why I prefer it, but it's not only factual because his conclusion is, based on his enormous nose, "the air around this 2017 season has an “end of the party” scent to it."

I'm not defending Wickersham - again I prefer Curran's approach every day of the week because it's not sensationalized or based on un-attributed sources - but his conclusion is very similar - i.e., this may be the last season we see these 3 together in the organization.

What defines the Wickersham piece is the various specific claims it makes about strained relationships between Brady/Belichick/Kraft, and Curran not only stayed far away from that in his own piece, but today has made it clear that his own sources disagree on pretty much all of the specific claims Wickersham made.

The Curran piece did state that Belichick / Brady "have always had an employee-boss relationship. It’s not frigid, but it’s not warm either." He also mentioned that Guerrero being publicly shunned by Belichick can't warm Tom's feelings either. Again, like you mentioned, this stuff is common sense to those who follow the reporting around the team closely.

Regarding Curran's piece from today - I don't understand why he left this section hanging out there without analysis:

The whispers are . . .
There are people within the Patriots organization who believe Belichick got bigfooted by Kraft on this and are proceeding under the assumption that Belichick may be so miffed that he’ll leave. They also believe the Patriots made a mistake gambling that Brady will be able to produce for as long as he thinks while moving on from the obviously-gifted Garoppolo.

So, it appears that Curran heard some of the whispering that Wickersham chose to publish.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Investigate and either prove the relationship is fine or not. Why is this such hard thing to do?

He's already weighed in on the matter, what are you suggesting he should prove? Prove that their relationship is fractured? You can't prove made-up ********. How is he going to prove that their relationship is fine? They've already adamantly stated it's fine, and he reported that. How to you prove someone's relationship is strong beyond what they've already adamantly stated? Particularly two people as generally private as professional as Brady/Belichick

 

[maineman209]

"Seth, almost everything you've written has been refuted by the team, other reporters locally, and even the NFL itself. What do you have to say?"
"I stand by my reporting, we verified everything as much as possible."

What?

Like that "Patriot of the Week" award?

 

[PatsDeb]

If any "Patriots staffers" were "stunned and confused", they must know far less about how the cap works than many posters on this forum.

Brissett was traded for a WR (Dorsett) after it was clear that the Pats' #1 and #3 WRs (Edelman, Mitchell) from the end of last season wouldn't be playing this season. It's highly unlikely that this was some arbitrary, impulsive decision that BB made on his own. It's far more likely that Caserio and the entire pro-scouting department were involved and that the trade was based on one of their many contingency plans. It's very likely that there were other WRs and trade scenarios under consideration that fell within the constraints of "trade ammunition" in terms of players and future draft picks, and 2017 cap hit.

This is how most pro-personnel scouting departments work. BB's "genius" when it comes to acquiring players to fill in is having the smarts to employ one of the sharpest and hardest-working pro-personnel department in the league.

The trade that actually occurred - Brissett for Dorsett - was simply the first one they attempted and was probably the most affordable.



This is speculation based on unconfirmed rumor being submitted as fact. IOW, pure ********.

Great post Maineman, and I think absolutely on the money. I'm going to stop responding to this BS now. Go Patriots. I hope this nonsense has pushed them to go for broke on their 6th Super Bowl win (as if they needed more motivation).

An opinion based on the above ********.

At the eleventh hour, the Pats (again, NOT some arbitrary, impulsive decision that BB made on his own) were able to get a pick for JG that would likely fall in the top-40, instead of a Comp pick that would likely have been outside the top-100. Nearly a two-round difference. And it was their last opportunity to get that much. It should also be noted that, prior to that trade, the Pats were entering the 2018 draft with five total picks.

But the most important factual context being ignored is that, before the start of Camp ...
- Nink hadn't retired
- Rivers hadn't gotten injured
- McClellin hadn't gotten injured
- Cy Jones hadn't gotten injured
- Edelman hadn't gotten injured
- Mitchell had yet to suffer the injury that sent him to IR
- Valentine had yet to suffer the injury that sent him to IR
- Langi, Hightower, Ebner, Cannon ....
- Bennett (and his cap hit) had yet to be claimed (happened after Hogan was injured)
--- and the Pats had ~$25M in cap space, most of which might have been rolled over into 2018 ... and helped to cover a potential Franchise tag for JG that would have bought the Pats more time to make a final decision for the long term future of the team - outside the distraction and pressure of a season already underway.

The Pats now have less than $3M in cap space available to roll over - due to the roster moves that needed to be made to compensate for all those missing players. By the time the trade deadline rolled around, their financial opportunity to retain JG for one more off-season on the FT had completely evaporated. It was down to either letting JG walk in FA for a 3rd-round Comp, or trying to get something more.

At that point, which do you trade? JG? Or the veteran who has you sitting at 6-2 while completing 68% of his throws for 2540 yards, 16 TDs (vs two INTs) despite a passing attack that had to be re-engineered at the last minute due to critical injuries? Also note that Hogan - yet another critical passing attack weapon - was known to be seriously injured before the trade. Given those circumstances, which of the two QBs do you think would have the best chance of getting the team to the playoffs and at least a shot at another Superbowl this season?

I have to say, though, that Wickersham has done a bang-up job of combining a willful ignorance of all this with speculation about the meaning of the Guerrero ******** and cartoonish characterizations of Brady, Belichick, Kraft and the entire organization to successfully appeal to the sub-90 IQ level of what remains of ESPN's audience.

**** ESPN. **** Wickersham. And **** all those other assholes in media like him who, with every word they write or utter, make our country dumber.

Edit- not sure what happened to my original post, but Maineman is right on the money. I am going to stop giving this nonsense any more replies. Go Patriots. I hope this has given you that extra motiviation (like they need it) to go for broke on your 6th Super Bowl Win!

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Late to the discussion but my only real takeaway is that I somehow didn't realize Brady & Garoppolo had the same agent. That changes EVERYTHING about the trade for me. You can no longer second-guess BB for trading Jimmy G for too little return. When your QB1 & QB2 are basically negotiating together, the team loses all leverage. It was their agent's job to set both his clients up as starting QB's. Unless Brady retired voluntarily, Jimmy G was never going to succeed him in New England as long as Brady wanted to keep playing.

I don't think Yee had anything to do with this. Any agent, who wants to continue in business (and not get sued by his clients) has an obligation (and financial incentive) to cut the best possible deal for his clients.

In addition, in this case, if Belichick cut a deal for Garoppolo, which was also clearly in Yee's client's interest (which it was), then Yee had no choice but to do the paperwork. The Pats can trade any player whose contract permits a trade whenever League rules allow them to do so. Yee's real work will come when Garoppolo negotiates his next contract.

Otherwise, the Patriots held all the cards. Their options (at the time) were:
Trade Garoppolo for whatever they could get after Brady had gotten through half the season without injury and was performing at a high level. This is what they did.
Release Garoppolo after the season and get nothing in return, but keep a viable backup for the rest of 2017 in the event of injury to TB12.
Franchise Garoppolo and keep Brady, using 40+% of their cap money on one position next year. This made no economic sense.
Release Brady and keep Garoppolo, taking a significant but not deadly cap hit. A decision was made not to do this.

If we are to believe the reports (and, I for one am not inclined to believe unsubstantiated reports) the Pats tried to cut a deal with Garoppolo in the offseason that would have kept him on the roster at a cap friendly number. But, no responsible agent would have let Garoppolo take below market money when he would be a UFA after the season. So, that doesn't make Yee a factor either.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Lombardi is getting in the mud it seems.

How could Lombardi be the leak for stuff that's happened after he left the organization?

Why would Lombardi leak to ESPN, given that he works for the Ringer which has its own NFL writers?

 

[Former Fan]

Sounds like you're not even basing it on his work but simply because of his employer ?

That's right. He's had almost 2 full years since he was given irrefutable proof that his employer has less integrity than a submarine with a screen door and he's still there. Sounds like someone who doesn't give a **** about their own integrity to me.

He's probably enjoying playing the "good cop" role, and laughing all the way to the bank when his defenders click on his pre-approved tripe.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

I really wish kraft had a much bigger set of balls to publicly condemn Seth and ESPN for this fabricated story. Instead, Kraft just sits there and takes it like usual, releasing a small paragraph without too much in it. Kraft needs to make his voice be heard on this one. This article is blowing up big across the entire country and everyone outside of New England believes it.

I hate ESPN with a passion. I have never seen them post something positive on the patriots.

 

[XLIX]

I don't think Yee had anything to do with this. Any agent, who wants to continue in business (and not get sued by his clients) has an obligation (and financial incentive) to cut the best possible deal for his clients.

In addition, in this case, if Belichick cut a deal for Garoppolo, which was also clearly in Yee's client's interest (which it was), then Yee had no choice but to do the paperwork. The Pats can trade any player whose contract permits a trade whenever League rules allow them to do so. Yee's real work will come when Garoppolo negotiates his next contract.

Otherwise, the Patriots held all the cards. Their options (at the time) were:
Trade Garoppolo for whatever they could get after Brady had gotten through half the season without injury and was performing at a high level. This is what they did.
Release Garoppolo after the season and get nothing in return, but keep a viable backup for the rest of 2017 in the event of injury to TB12.
Franchise Garoppolo and keep Brady, using 40+% of their cap money on one position next year. This made no economic sense.
Release Brady and keep Garoppolo, taking a significant but not deadly cap hit. A decision was made not to do this.

If we are to believe the reports (and, I for one am not inclined to believe unsubstantiated reports) the Pats tried to cut a deal with Garoppolo in the offseason that would have kept him on the roster at a cap friendly number. But, no responsible agent would have let Garoppolo take below market money when he would be a UFA after the season. So, that doesn't make Yee a factor either.

If Yee is ethical, and I have no reason to believe he isn’t, he compartmentalizes Brady and Garoppolo into separate cases.

Regarding Garoppolo, he needs to see what Jimmy wants. By all accounts, what Jimmy wants more than anything is to play. As such, an extension in NE is a non-starter.

 

[BradyFTW!]

BS dude. If you were in Mike Reiss' shoes you wouldn't leave either.

Yeah, people demanding that Reiss should leave ESPN are just being impractical. It's easy to make a moral stand with someone else's money and career, but if it was their own livelihoods on the line I suspect they'd quickly become a whole lot more pragmatic about the situation.

2018 is not a great time to be a beat writer. The Boston Herald going bankrupt should have made that abundantly clear, but context clues can be hard I guess. For a guy whose entire resume right now is basically his connections within the Patriots organization and other connections he's built while covering the Patriots, there just aren't a lot of places where he can go and make a secure living. Of that small list, ESPN is at the top of the pile, and he's already worked his way up the ranks to get there.

The only real move left for him is to expand to a national profile who covers league-wide stories, which is hard enough already even without alienating the only nationwide outlet anyone cares about.

 

[bormio]

Harrison must think he has joined a zoo.

 

[goheels22002]

Some "fans" (read: trolls) here give it validity and apparently, the NFLN isn't even addressing the story, so it looks like it was an attempt by BSPN to create another "gate" but it's coming back to smack them in the face.

Actual, insider footage of BSPN's editorial bureau.

Nikolai, that is your best post ever.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

That's right. He's had almost 2 full years since he was given irrefutable proof that his employer has less integrity than a submarine with a screen door and he's still there. Sounds like someone who doesn't give a **** about their own integrity to me.

He's probably enjoying playing the "good cop" role, and laughing all the way to the bank when his defenders click on his pre-approved tripe.

Shouldn't you hate hacks like Tomase and Felger more ?

 

[PF_SU]

How could Lombardi be the leak for stuff that's happened after he left the organization?

Why would Lombardi leak to ESPN, given that he works for the Ringer which has its own NFL writers?

Well, there is also a Patriot of the Week award...

 

[mosslost]

Loved Yee’s response “the story didn’t have one on the record quote.”

I have to keep calling these complaints out about "anonymous" sources out. Without anonymous sources their could be no real investigative reporting. That said, I think this story is just flat out speculation by whichever anonymous source it is. Good sources are most often also anonymous as well.

 

[fightingirish595]

Be a man or a woman and put your name on it. Anonymous sources are BS

 

[Tony2046]

Patsfans is putting out an article tomorrow:

"There's a growing rift at BSPSN"

"A source tells me that with no end in sight to the ongoing layoffs the tensions between BSPNees have risen to Titanic sinking levels"

"Another source says, Mike and Seth nearly came to blows"

"Mike was heard calling Seth a Hawt take *****".


Whoa. I can't wait to read that one.