How is it that the Patriots are the ones

[Kdo5]

Deion is a jerk. A turd...add him to the Hall of Turds on PFT. The little prick doesnt know whats best for him, shut the hell up about the grievance thing...what a jackass, Deion Branch is! A total douche bag piece of crap.

 

[fgssand]

Here - add this into the mix. From PFT:

But, where is it pointed out that Deion is under contract - hence, all of this should/could become moot.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Couple of points -

Felger mentioned more than once last week that the Patriots were actually exploring invoking the good faith argument against Chayut themselves. There is a clause in the CBA that requires (not sure how you['d ever enforce it so it's likey a spirit type clause) the sides to exhibit good faith when negotiating. I think they feel pretty solid on this as Jonathan said last week their detailed written offer did not result in a written counter but rather a verbal offer to report as is in exchange for removing the tag from the table for 2007. He said they had never had a detailed written offer not countered in equally detailed writing. That is something the arbitor will count heavily against the young agent.

The compensation issue is a non starter. The JETS gave Abraham permission to seek a trade while tagged this spring when they didn't have cap space to maintain the tag had he signed it. His two primary suitors became Seattle and Atlanta. Atlanta kept flat out refusing to meet the JETS 1st round draft pick demand but they got a deal worked out with Abraham and he announced he would not negotiate with Seattle who was already offering a 1st. It dragged on for a few weeks before Atlanta brought Denver into the deal as a third party and the JETS ended up with a #1 for Abraham.

Comparing Branch to injured players who were traded while they were not necessarily projected to be available to play in the early season or a 3rd WR who had already lost his #2 job to an injured player Denver had already traded a #2 for whom the Pats had also inquired about as a replacement for their departed #2 WR, is all apples and oranges. Had Branch not played 16 games last season or been charged with a crime and embroiled in a scandal or not managed to catch more than 1 TD pass all season or even publicly demanded a trade (which he didn't have the stones to do) you might be able to make a case, but even then there is not prescribed valuation under the CBA beyond the franchise tag and RFA tenders and those favor the Patriots POV.

In this case there was a clear deadline stipulated and up to that time Seattle had offered no compensation to the Pats. So their deal was really never a deal at all. That left the JETS offering a #2 which the Patriots are under no obligation to take. Teams turn down trade offers every day. Denver held out for a sweet deal for Lelie that included his signing an agreement to pay his fines and refund one fifth of his rookie signing bonus. NFL players are chattel property. They can't make you sell it or trade it for less than you are willing to. While some agents may be gleeful, the true professionals are not because **** like this from wannabes like Chayut who have screwed up just make their daily quid pro quo relationships with FO's more difficult. And anything that smacks of prescribed compensation makes it harder in the long run to move and sign clients which is what they want to do. It would just make it virtually impossible for players to get out of deals they want out of via trade or have any say in where they go. These kind of deals are a cooperative effort with agents and Chayut is just pissing in everybody's cheerios because he wasn't prepared (didn't really have that ace in the hole like Borges claimed Minnesota was) and he couldn't pull a complex deal off in a short window if at all.

 

[DaBruinz]

You don't know this as fact. You are assuming.

What was I assuming? That the Jets offer of a second round pick wasn't reasonable.

The Patriots are he ONLY ones who can determine whether a deal is reasonable for them. That is FACT. Its not an assumption.

Seems to me that the only person making assumptions is you BMU.

What is known as fact is that Branch's agent has asked the league to file a grievance agaisnt the Pats for not acting in good faith. I am assuming that because the NFLPA has agreed to do so they feel as though they have a case.

What is know is that the NFLPA was asked to file a grievance against the Pats. The LEAGUE was not asked to file a grievance aganist the Pats. You seem to have a hard time keeping FACTS straight, BMU.

It doesn't matter what Branch and his agent did or didn't do.

Actually, it does matter what Branch and his agent have done. But, far be it from you to know what you are talking about.

What matters now is whether or not a mediator feels that the Pats, by allowing Branch to seek out a trade and apparnely setting compensation guidlines for that trade, opened themselves up for penalty. Had the Pats simply done nothing the Pats wouldn't be faced with this situation. They'd still have a disgruntled Branch but they wouldn't have opened themselves up to the possibility of an arbitrator ruling against them.

Man, you just love contradicting yourself. If the Patriots set up compensation guidelines (2 1st round picks) and they weren't met (which is obviously the case), then there is not possible way that there is grounds for a grievance.

They should have know that allowing a contracted player to seek a trade might not be a wise thing to do

Actually, I still believe it was a very wise thing to do. We all know that Chayut never sent a counter offer to the Patriots. So, we have no idea what the Patriots would have countered with if Chayut HAD.

And there-in lies the crux of the situation. No one outside of Pioli and Belichick know how high the Patriots would have gone. The Patriots, in my eyes, have treated Branch the exact same way that they treated the best player on the team (Brady). And Branch feels that he is worth even better treatment than that.

 

[DaBruinz]

Here - add this into the mix. From PFT:

Our guess is that Branch has opted for the two-pronged approach in order to put the Pats in a position that what they say about the matter in the first grievance can be used against them in the second grievance, and vice-versa. If the team thinks he merits a first-round pick or more in trade, then the argument in the second grievance will be that he should have been offered at least as much as what the Colts paid Reggie Wayne. If the Pats think he's worth substantially less than Wayne financially, then the argument in the first grievance will be that the team should be willing to let him go for, as reported, a second-round pick.

The only problem with them trying to do the two pronged attack is that this is a negotiation. The Patriots are going to try and get the best deal possible for them while paying their player what they feel is reasonable. However, that doesn't mean they weren't willing to go up to 6 years and 36 million. Chayut has no idea how high the Patriots would have gone.

Also, the Patriots can contend that the Reggie Wayne contract was that of a FREE AGENT, not of a player still under contract. And, there fore, Wayne's contract is irrelavent.

 

[arrellbee]

.... It seems Duh Jest were using this as an opportunity to stir up crap as much as testing the Pats' resolve on trade value.

This proposition has been put forth in a lot of posts. I certainly could not say it isn't the case - who knows. But isn't there at least a fair chance that the Jets simply, without malice, thought - why not ? - we'd love to get Branch for a 2nd round pick ?? I'm not sure why many teams might not have done that on a long-shot flyer - other than not wanting to take the trouble on what they thought would be useless (for example, maybe the Seahawks).

??

 

[arrellbee]

DaBruinz
You just simply have to STOP trying to use logic in this case. Geeeesh. While I happen to think your details on the logic are really very good, there is unfortunately a very real chance that the arbitrator (depending on who it is) will care absolutely nothing about logic or the legal situation.