What's behind the Patriots' decision to let Deion Branch and his agent Jason Chayut seek a trade to another club and negotiate a new deal? After months reporting on this and looking at it from both sides, here's my take on why it's been done.
1) Enough's enough. Nothing's getting any better. Nothing's getting any worse. Nothing's happening at all. The Patriots want Branch to play for them. This kicks the snowball over the edge of the hill. When it stops rolling, he'll either be in uniform for the team or the team can move on knowing it made its effort.
2) The Pats are calling a bluff. Chayut and Branch believe other teams would pay the holdout wide receiver "Reggie Wayne money" if they could just get to him to make an offer. Wayne signed a six-year, $40 million deal with the Colts in March that included a $13.5 million signing bonus. But Branch has a year left on his rookie deal; Wayne was a free agent.
As a result, the Patriots don't believe anyone's going to dangle huge dough. Allowing Chayut to take offers will, the Patriots believe, help the Branch camp see that the three and five-year deals they extended him which average $6 million a season are good deals. When nobody antes up to that level, Branch is in a sticky spot.
The aim is to make Chayut -- who seems to have convinced Branch there's gold in them thar hills -- look like a boob.
3) Take it to the streets. The fact the Pats are PUBLICLY granting this puts the onus on Branch and Chayut. "You think there's something better out there, go find it. You have one week." The statement also means teams won't have to call the Pats seeking permission to talk to Chayut since there's blanket approval.
4) Low-risk maneuver. There's little risk to the Patriots. Anybody comes to the Pats wanting to make a deal, they squash it. Unless someone's going to send them Jerry Rice in his prime, they won't bite.
We're obviously going to be chasing this story for tomorrow. We'll update if anything comes to us.
Tom
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Tom Where did Deion get his agent Hoseas bar?
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This is, simply, brilliant negotiating on the part of the Patriots. Not because its a “hardball” move to show Deion who’s boss, but because it expertly allows the Branch side to save face in getting back into camp. With Branch still having a year left on his contract and it being less-than-likely that another team will want to hand out both Reggie Wayne $$$ AND rights compensation, agent Chayut can correctly say after 9/1 that he negotiated the best deal for his client - the Patriots deal. Thats assuming that the team puts their original offer back on the table, which Negotiations 101 says would be a wise idea to show good faith. The Pats would also have the option to reduce the holdout fines, another compromise tactic that would demonstrate good faith. By offering Chayut the chance to deal with others, the Pats are simply allowing him a way to publically accept the Pats offer and not look like a chump for calling Branch’s rookie deal “exploitation”, holding out his client, and not getting the mega-deal that he wants.
Remember - when Ty Law spoke to reporters a few summers ago and called Belichick a “liar”, moaning about getting more money and saying he didnt want to play for the Pats again, the Pats front office reacted by saying and doing absolutely NOTHING. This kept a war of words from escalating that would have made face-saving more difficult. Law was back in camp on time. Contrast this to the Eagles public reaction to TO/Rosenhaus’ demands, when Laurie told reporters it would never happen. From that point on, it was impossible for either side to save face in the negotiations. That was the mistake the Eagles made in the process. The Patriots do everytthing in their power to negotiate privately and allow the other side to emerge with at least some dignity, even if they dont get the $$$$$ they’re looking for.
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If the pats dont pick him up they just shot themselves in the foot comeon now all the loss free agentcy how much more can they rebuild there looking dam good so far this yr and you add branch in the mix its gonna do nothing but good for the team just give him what he wants and lets go already.
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Hello...for me this just goes to show the tough decision making abilities of the Patriots. They stick to their guns. Here's a guy a superbowl MVP who has been asked to either show up or seek a deal and then there's another guy somewhere in Texas riding an excercise bike. What I want to say is that I like this move, either way they either get Branch back or someone as good as him or better. And the worse case scenario is that we might end up with a high draft pick. So the offense will be still fine and we will either have a good receiver for us or a top pick for next year to rebuild the patriots for the future. Either way its win win for the Pats! No wonder they won 3 SB's....and many more to come.
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Good for the Pats. Who does this jerk think he is? A decent receiver who looks better than he actually is due to Tom Brady and the Pats in general, and he insults the people who made him by sitting out? I hope he ends up in Dallas with the other screwballs and rounds off their side-show. We'll see how good he is with Bledsoe throwing the ball at his cleats all day.
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