Word on the street (and by street, I mean this quality Michael Silver column at SI.com) is that Tom Brady’s unhappy with the Patriots organization. And it’s not because Bill Belichick is putting his genius wood to his girlfriend, and it’s not because they forgot to order him the special hypoallergenic eyeblack for players with sensitive skin. It’s because they’ve get to come up with the scratch to get Deion Branch into camp.
Tom recently missed three straight days of practice with the Patriots, and no one would say why. You could chalk it up to just typical Belichickian tight-lippededness (that isn’t a word), or you could look for a bigger and better story, that being that Tom Brady is skipping practices because he’s mad that they won’t pay his #1 receiver. Here’s on Tom on Deion Branch:
“Deion is the most important player on our offense,” Brady told SI.com. “When I look at the elite receivers in the game, he is second to nobody. He doesn’t get a lot of the credit, because we do spread the ball around here, and he doesn’t feel a need to promote himself like so many guys at that position. But he is that good.”
“I asked [cornerback] Eric Warfield, who was with the Chiefs until we signed him this year, ‘How does Deion compare with the best receivers in the league?’ He said, ‘Deion was the best I faced last year. He was spectacular.’”
And, as I usually will do in an NFL contract dispute, I’m siding with the player. Deion Branch is scheduled to make $1.05 million this year. For a #1 receiver on a team that wants to contend for the Super Bowl, for the security blanket of the franchise player of all franchise players, that’s absurd.
This is why the NFL’s labor agreement bugs me (and I know someone’s about to accuse me of feeling sorry for millionaires). If Branch’s contract called for him to make an absurdly high number like $9 million this year, and the team thought that was exorbitant, they could just tear up the contract. But Deion branch is making $1.05 million, a bargain-basement price, and he has no recourse but to holdout, something the league just made it more difficult and more expensive to do.
It will all eventually get worked out, and Branch will get paid, I’m sure. But the sooner, the better. It’s not a great idea for the Patriots to be pissed off Tom Brady, is it? Just pay him. Pay that man his money.
Zebang
I hear you about reflexively coming down on the players’ side in these situations. I’m much the same. In fairness, though, it should be noted the Patriots have indicated a willingness to renegotiate Branch’s contract. The issue isn’t him making $1 million this year – I think the Patriots FO admitted as much – it’s whether he’s willing to accept the new deal the Patriots are offering. We’re obviously not privy to those negotiations, but it’s been reported that new deal would pay Branch in the neighborhood of $6 million a season. Now, that’s on average, and it would be fairly typical of NFL contracts for the deal to be heavily backloaded, so the “average” may not be especially representative. But it’s fair to note the Patriots aren’t trying to fleece him here.
Here’s a decent column from the other side,
http://www.projo.com/patriots/content/projo_20060727_27branch.33b5c61.html
August 2, 2006 at 10:08 am
Chunky
I agree about NFL players being underpaid, or at least underleveraged … for all the billions NFL owners make, you’d think the players could get a deal at least in the same ballpark as MLB or NBA …
August 2, 2006 at 10:12 am
Dave's Football Blog
Thumbs up on the Rounders reference. Sports blogs need more Malkovich.
August 2, 2006 at 10:56 am
jerloma
Maybe Brady should ask some Broncos defensive backs who they think the toughest receiver is and then get the Pats to try to sign that guy.
Just sayin.
August 2, 2006 at 12:39 pm
The Bird
Bill Belichick is a bas%*#&.
You have kids Bill! So does she! What are you doing? Come on man, show some respect. You make me sick.
The Bird
August 2, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Andy
Today while I was going to work at the gas station, I was pretty unhappy with the fact that I’m paid nothing and pretty much just went through the motions and did a crappy job. But I imagine a worker in China who has to work in a sweatshop 12 hours overnight every night for a year or be fired just to make what I make in a week would have very little sympathy for me and my whining about being underpaid.
As such, I can muster sympathy for the millionaire. It’s all a matter of perspective.
August 2, 2006 at 11:40 pm
the mighty mjd
See, I knew it.
August 3, 2006 at 12:25 am
Jeff
I always side with the players. I look at sports leagues, in a way, as a microcosm of the world of capitalism. The sums of money are on a different scale, but the basic premise is that the people doing the majority of the work (workers, players) are getting paid a fraction of the money being generated by the business. A minority of people “earn” the majority of the money and, as such, they are exploiting the workers/players because they are making their profits off of someone else’s hard work.
August 3, 2006 at 10:45 am
Andy
I was actually agreeing with you in a nondirect, muddled sort of way due to my crappy writing. I feel common cause with all people who are underpaid, whether they make millions, minimum wage, or unpaid with permission to keep coming to work. Plus I hate the Pats.
August 3, 2006 at 11:44 am