He may want to get paid, but he has never said anything about getting paid top dollar. He may want to get as much or more than Haynesworth, but I have seen very little from this article to prove that than two unnamed sources. Unnamed sources are a crapshoot with their accuracy (just ask John Tomase on that one).
Oh, I don't know...it was never more than unnamed sources close to the player (AND LOGIC) that said the same things about Asante and Deion. But they were right.
Peppers agent has already started shifting the goalposts in the Peppers game. He said yesterday he has spoken to "several teams" not one of which is NE about how they would use his client and more importantly what it would take to compensate him adequately. He also made sure to mention that much as he purportedly dislikes playing 4-3 DE in Carolina, he would be absatively fine returning to play for them this season as the highest paid player in the league.
You know, tagged players who aren't QB's don't get to be that except via the 120% rule which means his last contract wasn't remotely team friendly...and even coming off a piss poor 2007 season he refused to sign a lucrative extension because it likely reflected the questions everyone was raising about his disappointing 2007 performance. Yet he apparently only decided he wanted to move on to another system after he was held sackless in Carolina's upset playoff loss to Arizona... Being a Patriot is all about accountability, so I'm not sure a moody player who is quick to blame the system for shortcomings is a good fit for a BB team at any price...any more than I buy the notion that a player who turned down a lucrative long term extension while he was making $13M+ off a cap killing contract year intended to be fluff at the end of his rookie deal doesn't care about the money...
Honestly, some of you need not only a functional BB speak decoder, you need to get the tint removed from your read between the lines glasses.
Brady has always taken less here. The caveat has always remained no one else gets more. Including Seymour and Moss and AD and lots of guys asked to do something that may not pad their stats or maximize their bank accounts. And while we may be looking at an uncapped future, Kraft and BB are committed to their system, the underpinning of which is maintaining compensation slots within the roster and not overloading the higher slots at the expense of the remainder...or stroking delicate egos. As Pioli used to remind us all periodically they are not in the business of acquiring/assembling the most talent in NE, they are in the business of building a deep team that can win consistently because leaders here make sacrifices to be here.
And while we don't always win it all as some here seem to think we must, we've won more than anyone consistently over the last 8 seasons. If it ain't broke, you don't need to fix it, just tweek it. Bill is tweeking a team that went 11-5 last year with Matt Cassel at the helm and Jr. Seau and Rosie Colvin off their couches. First tweek is upgrading at QB...second is upgrading the secondary and getting faster across the board on defense. He's made substantial inroads to that end in FA and has 4 day 1 draft picks in hand and a couple of potential impact players returning from IR with which to continue those efforts.
If Peppers were not available you'd all be a bunch of happy campers today. But like kids at christmas you're not going to be happy now unless you get the new brand name it toy. Even if it means you have to get rid of a couple of unsung toys that have already made you the envy of all the other little brats on the block...
