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Question No. 1: Why?

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

Posted by   at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments 5

Pats give Branch permission to seek trade

In an unusual move, the New England Patriots have posted on their Web site a two-sentence statement saying that they are giving wide receiver Deion Branch permission to seek a trade and negotiate a contract with another team. The statement says that the permission is granted to Branch through Sept. 1.

Branch, the Patriots' top wide receiver, is under contract but has been holding out for a richer deal.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments 4