You guys should fight

I was mostly joking with that post.

How often has NE been locked into a seed for Week 17, anyway? 2007, obviously, but that's sui generis. I thought about 2009 when Welker tore his ACL and thinking that was the moment that Belichick may reconsider, but apparently they could have moved up from #4 to #3, for whatever that's worth.

i hope jimmy garappolo lights it up this year and totally makes brady look like a guy that mouth kisses his own children

yeah go niners

I hope so too, because that would mean the conditional draft picks would get better and bet... shit. That's a deal I won't be able to understand, Belichick.

I hope Roquan Smith sticks to his position on this contract.

It would be absolutely ridiculous if he lost guaranteed money due to a suspension that occurred because of the new helmet rule.

Offsets are a joke anyhow.

I've been surprised at the lack of criticism the Pats are getting for only getting a 2nd for him. If he's as good as he appears they got absolutely fleeced.

All this nonsense with the Cowboys and Dez Bryant.

I guess by next year they’ll discover Dak just isn’t Russell Wilson.

The local media in New England are killing the Pats for this.

Didn't they supposedly turn down a better offer from the Browns?

Supposedly, although the Browns may have accidently hung up whilst celebrating the deal.

Dez to the Patriots after like Week 3?

There's all sorts of rumors that Belichick never wanted to trade Jimmy, but Kraft stepped in and convinced him to do it given Brady's continued success. So, Belichick, really liking the kid, decided to put him in a better spot (San Fran) vs. Cleveland. As the story goes, Belichick called San Fran and made the offer and they were shocked. Take that with a grain of salt, along with the media killing Belichick for "throwing the Super Bowl" by not playing Butler out of spite for the Jimmy G situation.

No one is harder on the team than the local media here; spend one day reading the local newspapers/websites and listening to the radio and you'd think the last 20 years have been a disaster. Like NY and Philly, Boston is a negative city. We are all miserable all the time.

Except when we're winning championships! Welcome to the club, Iggles fans.

Yeah I can see that, it's not like he's got any track record of success or anything......

Doesn't he value 2nd's hire than 1st's anyway? (you don't have the 5th year etc etc) He was going to look good because Shannahan has a good scheme and he is capable of doing what he's told.

As far as the whole trade when Brady is 40+.... I mean....did Bob Kraft have any say in that I don't know? Tom Brady is still a better QB than Jimmy G.

I'm sure if they put it out to the whole league to say he was available they would have gotten more than a 2nd (which Belichick promptly turned into more picks this year and next in darft-day trades anyway), but the sense is that Bill didn't want to deal within the AFC. I mean, even playing Arizona and SF against each other should have returned more than just a 2nd. Other than those two NFC teams, would Minnesota, NYG, or Washington have dealt for Jimmy?

Now, a lot of fans are saying the Pats should have franchised Jimmy at the end of the year, but that doesn't seem to make any financial sense, so they were pretty much stuck with doing this deal on Bill's terms (at the deadline) or only getting a compensatory pick for the kid when he walked at the start of Free Agency (and again, he could have signed with the Broncos, or Jets, or anywhere that wanted him in the AFC).

I get what you're saying but the value maximizes beginning with the picks from about 15 on in the 1st round, so no, this would be very stupid.

This and the Butler decision will be seen as big black marks for the Pats for this season, or at least they should be.

Orpheus is 100 percent correct.

It's hard to deny the rift between Brady, Belichick, Kraft and the damage it has caused.

1. Belichick wanted to move on, and viewed Jimmy G as the replacement.

2. Belichick ushers Brady's ridiculous scam artist TB12 partner/whacko Alex Guerrero off the field and bans him from the team plane or whatever.

3. Kraft stepped in. Sides with Brady.

4. Bad moves ever since (Butler, trading Jimmy G.) in retaliation.

It seems far fetched, but the local reporting continues on this.

i also read espn

Why not quit, leave and go try to win elsewhere?

I don’t have any idea why he didn’t play Butler but I guess we’ll never know unless Butler knows anything. He was also gifted two Super Bowl wins by coaching blunders so... I mean there’s that.

I’m not as ready to anoint Jimmy yet.