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or a mook...wickersham's a kook.
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Great response, thanks.
Just to push back a bit - I wonder how likely it is that well-informed lower level guys are going to talk to a reporter (especially one like Wickersham who has famously already dropped a bomb on the Patriots.) This piece has a bit about how "nobody knows anything because BB doesn't tell them, just buries them in work"... well that tells me that there are probably not many people in the building who could know (beyond just having heard a rumor) that BB reached out to WAS, NYG, or MIA. So, if we've got a small # of lower level guys who could actually know that BB was asking around, those guys are risking putting themselves in a bad place with respect to the Kraft Family and/or Belichick.
That's why I kinda figure one / both of the principles has to be involved here. As @Ian said, Jonathan seems plausible as a source. But, I'll keep your post in mind when I give the new Wickersham piece another read.
Because people want to have all the accurate information possible on what led to seemingly easily avoidable problems, and the apparently needless loss of the G.O.A.T. to the Tampa Bay Bucs.Whether it is true or not. Why do even want to keep focusing on stuff that happened four years ago and even if Belichick did explore other head coaching jobs, the talks never went anywhere?
Yeah I don’t know about that.curiously, since that whole “incident”, Kraft has not meddled in operations ever again!
Brady was trying to help Brown stabilize. He disagrees with the business decision made by Robert Kraft to jettison Brown.
The big problem is that the crux of the argument—that Belichick wanted to dump Brady and make Garoppolo the starter, and Kraft forced him to do the reverse—makes no sense, for at least two major reasons.My point simply was, much of what he wrote ended up being true. If you're saying 100% of what he wrote was wrong, that's just not accurate. Time, and other facts that eventually emerged since then, have proven that there ended up being some truth to quite a few parts of that story.
The Patriots opened the 2018 season with about $15M in cap space. And that was with Brady under contract and not a cap casualty. How, exactly, do they make Garoppolo the starter and trade Brady without going into cap hell?No doubt in my mind that bb felt betrayed when Kraft stabbed him in the back and sides with Brady and made bb trade jimmy g.
I think bb was exploring a return to the giants, but Kraft did whatever he had to do to smooth it over.
curiously, since that whole “incident”, Kraft has not meddled in operations ever again!
Same guy was going to trade Gronk until Gronk threatened retirement.The big problem is that the crux of the argument—that Belichick wanted to dump Brady and make Garoppolo the starter, and Kraft forced him to do the reverse—makes no sense, for at least two major reasons.
First off, there's the sheer PR aspect of it. Belichick could not have been unaware of the fact that trading Brady, less than a year after 28–3, would cause a fan revolt.
Second, there's the financial aspect of it. If Belichick had even considered that Garoppolo was the future, he should never have agreed to extend Brady in 2015. The cap cost of trading Brady and keeping Garoppolo would have left the team in 2020-like straits.
The bigger question I always have asked is why no succession plan after we traded Jimmy? Only took Etling in the 7th and Stidham in the 4th. My only conclusion now is Bill really believed Robert would get a deal done with Brady last year despite his putrid roster, crap deal offer, and all the signs that Brady was moving on. Bill also must have believed in Stidham at least through the draft last year until he didn't and signed Newton at the end of June. Such colossal mismanagement of the most critical position that I think we are looking for anything to try to understand but this Wickersham piece is just rehashing everything we already knew.Because people want to have all the accurate information possible on what led to seemingly easily avoidable problems, and the apparently needless loss of the G.O.A.T. to the Tampa Bay Bucs.
I'm not sure Florio thinks Wickersham is worth acknowledging anymore. He personally refuted Wickersham's main point (Kraft forcing Belichick to trade Garoppolo) within hours of the story being released. His NBC Sports colleague, Tom Curran, has basically called Wickersham a liar in reference to that claim.
Too many masochists...And the thread should have ended right here.
I haven't clicked it yet, but one could see Bill just making sure he knew what his options were if things didn't go his way.
Jimmy G was in the final year of his rookie deal, he had all the leverage.No doubt in my mind that bb felt betrayed when Kraft stabbed him in the back and sides with Brady and made bb trade jimmy g.
I think bb was exploring a return to the giants, but Kraft did whatever he had to do to smooth it over.
curiously, since that whole “incident”, Kraft has not meddled in operations ever again!
Cap debt, it wasn't needless... math doesn't lie.Because people want to have all the accurate information possible on what led to seemingly easily avoidable problems, and the apparently needless loss of the G.O.A.T. to the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Gronk was negotiating his contract through the media. He showed up at some motocross event at Gillette and made stupid comments so Bill threatened to ship him to Detroit. Rosenhaus told Gronk to get his butt in BB's office and work out a deal, the Patriots retained Gronk at the price they wanted. That's called negotiations.Same guy was going to trade Gronk until Gronk threatened retirement.
I 100% believe that they thought Brady wouldn't leave and would take one year deals because who could see Brady not retiring with the Patriots? What they probably didn't expect was a **** show at the wide receiver position that made an aging Brady say "why I am I putting up with this, there's gotta be a team out there that has talent that is going to commit to me". And then Brady found the perfect landing spot in Tampa where you had a talented stacked team, especially on offense, with a coach that people generally find legit, and was willing to roll out the red carpet for Brady.The bigger question I always have asked is why no succession plan after we traded Jimmy? Only took Etling in the 7th and Stidham in the 4th. My only conclusion now is Bill really believed Robert would get a deal done with Brady last year despite his putrid roster, crap deal offer, and all the signs that Brady was moving on. Bill also must have believed in Stidham at least through the draft last year until he didn't and signed Newton at the end of June. Such colossal mismanagement of the most critical position that I think we are looking for anything to try to understand but this Wickersham piece is just rehashing everything we already knew.
And what happened? Gronk ended up saying "screw this" and retired the next year and then found his love of the game again when he could unretire and force a way out to Tampa because it would have screwed our cap situation. So some negotiation.Gronk was negotiating his contract through the media. He showed up at some motocross event at Gillette and made stupid comments so Bill threatened to ship him to Detroit. Rosenhaus told Gronk to get his butt in BB's office and work out a deal, the Patriots retained Gronk at the price they wanted. That's called negotiations.
Gronk retired because he suffered a hematoma in his thigh, or don't you remember him crying about it during his CBD tour. When he decided to come back the Pats were up to their ears in cap debt from pushing to win 3 rings and playing in 4 Super Bowls in five years. Both Tom and Gronk have 3 extra rings on their fingers because Bill was a tightwad and stretched a nickel into 25 cents. Meanwhile after that season BB and Linda attended Gronk's super bowl beach bash like old friends. It's a total fan take to think any of this BS is about "feelings," it's about millions of dollars... this isn't a Spanish telenovela.And what happened? Gronk ended up saying "screw this" and retired the next year and then found his love of the game again when he could unretire and force a way out to Tampa because it would have screwed our cap situation. So some negotiation.
Because people want to have all the accurate information possible on what led to seemingly easily avoidable problems, and the apparently needless loss of the G.O.A.T. to the Tampa Bay Bucs.
And what happened? Gronk ended up saying "screw this" and retired the next year and then found his love of the game again when he could unretire and force a way out to Tampa because it would have screwed our cap situation. So some negotiation.