The New England Patriots have resolved their embittered contractual dispute with hold out wide receiver Deion Branch by trading him to the Seattle Seahawks for the Seahawks' 1st round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. When compared to other recent trades of high profile wide-receivers (e.g., Donte Stallsworth only fetching the Saints a 4th round pick and reserve linebacker Mark Simoneau; Javon Walker only netting the Packers a 2nd round pick; Ashley Lelie only providing the Broncos with a 3rd round pick), many believe that the Patriots obtained a terrific return for Branch, a 26-year-old who has never caught more than 78 passes or accumulated 1,000 yards receiving in a season. Although Branch is a former super bowl MVP, he probably isn't a "number 1" wide receiver, particularly given his injury history. So the Patriots seemed to do pretty well with this mess, and the only better outcome probably would have been to find a way of resolving their dispute with Branch and bringing him back to the team.But the Patriots aren't satisfied. They are now demanding that Branch pay the full amount of fines he accrued by not reporting to the team. Those fines exceed $600,000. This demand appears to be within the Patriots' rights, and the likely reason they hadn't already asked for them is that they didn't want to burn bridges with Branch while there remained a possibility of him returning. With him gone, however, those bridges are probably irreparably destroyed, so they might as well collect (although I suppose doing so could run the risk of upsetting some of Branch's former teammates, who seemed to love the guy). Even with Branch set to sign a 6-year, $39 million deal (including a $13 million signing bonus) with the Seahawks, $600,000 is an awful lot of money.
According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, the Patriots are also preparing to file tampering charges against the New York Jets because the Jets, and specifically head coach Eric Mangini, told Branch what they had offered the Patriots as compensation for the wide receiver. The Boston Herald's John Tomase has the story:
The Patriots allowed Branch to negotiate with other teams during the last week of August. During that time, the sides were granted permission to discuss contract terms only. The Patriots contend the Jets told Branch about their offer of a second-round pick after putting together a six-year, $39 million contract.To add to the drama, the Patriots are playing the Jets this Sunday and 35-year-old Mangini--the NFL's youngest head coach--was the Patriots' defensive coordinator until this year. I wonder if Bill Belichick is simply trying to get into his former protégé's head as he prepares for this Sunday's game?
The Patriots believe that knowledge “poisoned the waters” and guaranteed Branch wouldn’t re-sign with the team.