Wickersham and others drop numerous bombshells on Belichick/Brady relationship

[TommyD4207]

Again, you still think that Kraft didn't want to spend and he hamstrung Belichick. You don't know that. Belichick may have been the one who was against spending.

Bill Belichick says Patriots have been 'one of the lowest spending teams' in NFL during recent years

When asked if New England got enough bang for its buck during last year's free agency, Bill Belichick talked about the last three seasons.

www.boston.com

“At some point, the reconciliation has to come. Our spending in 2020, our spending in 2021 and our spending in 2022, the aggregate of that, was we were 27th in the league in cash spending. Couple years we’re low, one year was high, but over a three-year period, we are one of the lowest spending teams in the league.”

They're on pace to be 29th next year. Which is equivalent to their draft position. Almost seems like a reconciliation.

 

[Rob0729]

Bill Belichick says Patriots have been 'one of the lowest spending teams' in NFL during recent years

When asked if New England got enough bang for its buck during last year's free agency, Bill Belichick talked about the last three seasons.

www.boston.com

They're on pace to be 29th next year.

Once the Pats cut JC Jackson, they will have the most cap room in the league. It looks like much of the speculation that the Krafts didn’t want Belichick to spend for next year may be true since they knew it was likely someone else would be shopping for the groceries.

But that quote was taken a bit out context. He wasn’t complaining that he was hamstrung. He was talking about how some years they spend a lot and other years they don’t on a question between spending in 202Q and 2022.

 

[ahmed]

I don't believe it. Everyone now will be coming out of the woodworks to say stuff. Tom Sr. never liked BB so nothing new here

You mean you don't want to believe it!

 

[ahmed]

Oh, he's got one source. Maybe two. They share the same last name.

Belichick?

 

[condon84]

Wickersham has made a ****load of money writing about the Patriots.

The quote from Kraft is most likely true. I understand why Kraft had to move on from Bill and why there were a lot of fans ready to move on, but throwing dirt on the guy on his way out when he won so much for the team and the fans is clown move.

 

[festy1986]

Umm that baseball bat anecdote is alarming

What happened there?

 

[ahmed]

Wickersham has made a ****load of money writing about the Patriots.

The quote from Kraft is most likely true. I understand why Kraft had to move on from Bill and why there were a lot of fans ready to move on, but throwing dirt on the guy on his way out when he won so much for the team and the fans is clown move.

That's how it always happens when somebody leaves. For whatever reason (probably gullible fans) they need to make said person look bad to make it an easier sell to fans. Same thing was done with Brady. That's when anything stopped shocking me.

 

[Vindicate]

"Watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' celebration unfold below, his parents opened a bottle of champagne. Nobody said a word about New England. It was simply understood. His mom and his dad and his sisters raised a glass, and if you listened carefully in that moment, the delicate sound of stemware was a bell tolling for the Patriots dynasty."

Lmao in no world would a legitimate reporting piece include this language. "nOtHiNgG WaS SaiD, BuT I KNOW WhAt wAs THOUGHT!"

A lot of taking small snapshots of scenes and then projecting emotional interpretation onto that scene.

Listen, Bill ****ed up in some big ways. But getting caught up in the drama gossip has always been a fool's errand in sports.

The Belichick/Brady market for writing about the Patriots is quickly disappearing and outlets are going to squeeze every penny out of that while they can, just like any other market, and just like any other market, the quality drops significantly when it's being squeezed.

Give me more articles about Mayo and the future.

 

[upstater1]

I am not ignoring the time-line at all. It fits quite nicely.

2014 - Belichick drafts Garropolo as the succession plan. He wanted to trade Brady as he gets into mid 30ths. This article and many others have discussed this to death. Bill's plan was probably trade Brady in 2015 or 16 after Garropolo gets up to speed. By then Brady would be mid 30s.

2015 - We win SB #4. Trade plan is now on hold as you can't really trade someone who just had such a year.

15-17: Brady plays lights out and wins another SB. Brady is now untradeable and Garropolo's contract is coming due. This is when Bill could not entertain Brady trades with 49ers.

19: Brady wins another SB. That offseason (summer 19) Brady approachs Bill asking for a long term contract. Bill does not budge and Kradt supports Bill.

It is at this summer of 2019 that Brady gets his contract changed to ensure free agency. All parties at this point knew Brady was done next summer.

After that and only then did Brady approach Dolphins. I would not at all be surprised if next week or next year or whenever, it comes out that Bill started reaching out to potential teams way before this Wednesday or even last game. It is normal business practice to set one's self up for next job when you know current one is about to be done.

Wickersham's article was about 2017!!!!!!

What trade plan from 2014 and 15?

Where did you ever come up with that?

And now you're defending Brady showing up on the Phins owners' boat? They're the archrival, he's under contract. Having an agent reach out during late in the season is one thing, but BEFORE the season starts you're on someone's boat? You're defending that? Seriously? We had games to play against his supposed team. We even lost the final game against them.

This is honestly nuts.

Everyone talks about Brady showing up at Kraft's house (again, according to Wickersham) and delivering the news he's leaving. So sad. Because according to you, this was all a phony show. He was out the door the year before!!!

You can't have it both ways. He was out the door in the summer of 2019 and he was just putting on a phony show in 2020.

 

[upstater1]

That's how it always happens when somebody leaves. For whatever reason (probably gullible fans) they need to make said person look bad to make it an easier sell to fans. Same thing was done with Brady. That's when anything stopped shocking me.

They are trying to hurt Belichick's appeal to a new team. They want to destroy him so it doesn't blow back on them.

The Krafts are snakes. Let's face it.

 

[upstater1]

Again, you still think that Kraft didn't want to spend and he hamstrung Belichick. You don't know that. Belichick may have been the one who was against spending. Even years where they did spend, Belichick always seemed to go for the bargain players and not the top players.

Belichick, if has GM responsibilities, might spend like crazy to make it looked like Kraft hamstrung him, but that may not be the case.

But I expect Kraft to spend this offseason to show the fans he is committed to winning and to probably show it was Belichick who wasn’t willing to spend. And the Patriots have more money than virtually anyone else.

And it is far too early to say this will blow up in Kraft’s face. It could work out better than if they kept Belichick.

It's irrelevant

Belichick is going to make it look like that. Everyone is going to say that regardless.

And Kraft will deserve it.

I hope Kraft spents like a crazy man to forestall that critique, but given his games with "mutual agreement" with Belichick (which was always about the money), we all know he's not going to do it.

I hope he does.

I mean, are we getting Tee Higgins?

 

[ahmed]

Wickersham's article was about 2017!!!!!!

What trade plan from 2014 and 15?

Where did you ever come up with that?

And now you're defending Brady showing up on the Phins owners' boat? They're the archrival, he's under contract. Having an agent reach out during late in the season is one thing, but BEFORE the season starts you're on someone's boat? You're defending that? Seriously? We had games to play against his supposed team. We even lost the final game against them.

This is honestly nuts.

Everyone talks about Brady showing up at Kraft's house (again, according to Wickersham) and delivering the news he's leaving. So sad. Because according to you, this was all a phony show. He was out the door the year before!!!

You can't have it both ways. He was out the door in the summer of 2019 and he was just putting on a phony show in 2020.

Not defending it as not a good look but am ok with it. As of the offseason in 2019 the team wanted him gone after he made them into 6 SBs winners from nothing. I would be pissed too and would look to land somewhere else.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Wickersham strikes me as such a ****ing wet blanket weasel.

“In two decades, a franchise was at or near the top more often than not…the three primary men (4 of you give JK a seat) didn’t always like each other, jockeyed for power, and took turns acting childishly while seeking their share of credit, and desiring to deflect blame”.

That could have been the article.

Truly earth-shattering news!!!


It was time all around.

NOW the real story is did the Krafts screw up by tabbing Mayo without a real search, and what will the final years of BB’s career bring?

Omce we have those answers, the final chapter will be clear to read.

It sucks that we won't have the opportunity to simply enjoy the greatness that we all enjoyed. Thanks to the media and the egos of the chief protagonists all we are left with is memories of the GOAT QB who ultimately became a diva and wanted to get away from the GOAT HC who helped him become successful, the GOAT HC who couldn't check his ego to find common ground with the GOAT QB when things got dicey and an ownership group who is more focused on how they look than making difficult decisions which led to behind the scenes meddling which ultimately brought it all crashing down. The fact that the GOAT QB and the GOAT HC were so good for so long that it made any normal succession planning impossible and took too much attention away from the team owners did not help the situation. I look forward to the next chapter once the pent up vengeance has been achieved by all parties. I hope that all will retain their dignity in the end.

 

[condon84]

"Watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' celebration unfold below, his parents opened a bottle of champagne. Nobody said a word about New England. It was simply understood. His mom and his dad and his sisters raised a glass, and if you listened carefully in that moment, the delicate sound of stemware was a bell tolling for the Patriots dynasty."

Lmao in no world would a legitimate reporting piece include this language. "nOtHiNgG WaS SaiD, BuT I KNOW WhAt wAs THOUGHT!"

A lot of taking small snapshots of scenes and then projecting emotional interpretation onto that scene.

Listen, Bill ****ed up in some big ways. But getting caught up in the drama gossip has always been a fool's errand in sports.

The Belichick/Brady market for writing about the Patriots is quickly disappearing and outlets are going to squeeze every penny out of that while they can, just like any other market, and just like any other market, the quality drops significantly when it's being squeezed.

Give me more articles about Mayo and the future.

************ did this tool really write that? I've refused to click and read any Patriot related stories involving Wickersham a long time ago.

 

[Mcp1982]

anyone else having trouble getting into ESPN+? i tried to sign up got charged and no access!

 

[Tunescribe]

"Watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' celebration unfold below, his parents opened a bottle of champagne. Nobody said a word about New England. It was simply understood. His mom and his dad and his sisters raised a glass, and if you listened carefully in that moment, the delicate sound of stemware was a bell tolling for the Patriots dynasty."

Lmao in no world would a legitimate reporting piece include this language. "nOtHiNgG WaS SaiD, BuT I KNOW WhAt wAs THOUGHT!"

A lot of taking small snapshots of scenes and then projecting emotional interpretation onto that scene.

Listen, Bill ****ed up in some big ways. But getting caught up in the drama gossip has always been a fool's errand in sports.

The Belichick/Brady market for writing about the Patriots is quickly disappearing and outlets are going to squeeze every penny out of that while they can, just like any other market, and just like any other market, the quality drops significantly when it's being squeezed.

Give me more articles about Mayo and the future.

Well said. Suffice to say that a certain clique of posters here will lose sense of purpose when this tediously perpetuated Brady vs. BB drumbeat fades to nothing. In that respect, thank goodness for the passage of time and good riddance to their butthurt campaign.

 

[FCB02062]

Two things which blow Wickersham out of the water on his previous scoop.

1. He said Belichick was trying to have Garoppolo succeed Brady.

Yet the 49ers GM Lynch is 2x on the record as saying he pushed for a trade of Brady and/or Garoppolo in the Spring of 2017 prior to Brady's last season, and again in October, AFTER the whole negotiation with Kraft/Brady/Belichick became a problem. Wickersham said it all went down in October of 2017. Lynch is on record as talking to Belichick in the spring of 2017. Even more interesting, Belichick never called Lynch to peddle Garoppolo to him. Instead, Lynch called Belichick in late October. The phone call ended with no offer of Garoppolo. Instead, Belichick called Lynch back later and only THEN offered Garoppolo. It was an afterthought.

2. Wickersham doesn't bother to ask Brady Sr. why Tom Brady was on Steven Ross's boat while he was still under contract with the Patriots. Clearly, Brady wanted to leave the Patriots for the Dolphins. How else can the person who started the thread interpret that? He won't even address it. Brady is lucky that Flores saved him from ruining his legacy in New England like Clemens did.

29-39

 

[Boomer B]

Umm that baseball bat anecdote is alarming

 

[Huckleberry1]

So Mayo is the new Head Coach. I wonder who will get the GM job?

 

[Boomer B]

They are trying to hurt Belichick's appeal to a new team. They want to destroy him so it doesn't blow back on them.

The Krafts are snakes. Let's face it.

This article doesn’t make Kraft look very good either, and Kraft just spent 3 days negotiating with Bill a solution (that likely cost him a lot of money and not being able to get compensation) that would make the split look amicable and be good optics for Kraft. Why would he be behind this article which makes them all look bad (except Brady). Especially when it paints him as a meddling owner?

Kraft wasn’t the source on this one. I imagine he spoke to Brady’s Dad for the Brady and Tampa stuff and probably has a few sources in Patriots coaching and management.