It was good business by the jets, a team in the Pats division. The jets FO KNEW the Pats wouldn't take the offer of a 2nd round pick and also KNEW Branch WOULD jump at $39M. It was a business move to futher divide the wedge between Branch and Pats.
This was an insane post to start with. If you are playing in the 21st century you lie and say you want players of character...like say the Vikings? Its a ridiculous thing to limit a coach to his words in these...um...times of prevarication and deception shall we say. Hey.... Paranoia is a direct decendant of Weird Ole Al Davis and his cheatin Raiders.
I'm starting to wonder what exactly this thread is talking about at this point. It is all over the place. Branch served multiple purposes. 1) if we got him, we got a very good receiver who just feels like he was mistreated by a team he helped win the Super Bowl. He isn't poor character, he just isn't getting what he feels he has rights to. Comparing him to TO is wrong. Did TO help his team win the SB? 2) Even not getting him causes a problem in NE. By the Jets giving a fair deal for him, and the Pats not honoring their statement to Branch, they have shown everyone, especially the team, that they are not willing to negotiate. I'll bet that looks really good to other guys whose contracts are going to expire soon.
Ok 1st off you don't like Mangini because "teams weren't knocking down his door in the offseason". Well lets be honest The only team knocking down Bellicheck's door was New England after Bob Kraft slimed his way into the picture after Belly resigned. Oh by the way if there was no tampering going on why did the Jets recieve draft picks? That doesn't exactly seem like the first class organization you claim them to be. 2nd this is an organization that has basically given the players the finger because they can. It's a business. Lets remember Ty Law was basically released because he got injured, Lawyer Milloy was traded because he asked for a raise and Drew Bledsoe was traded because he got hurt. So it's ok for the team to have all the negotiating power and not ok for the player. I don't know what type of work you are in but this is no different than you asking for a raise and not getting it and looking in the help wanted ads for another job. I suppose that makes you a "Me Me Me guy" huh? I don't know about you but I want to maximize my potential earnings and if I'm not doing that at my place of employment I seek it elsewhere. I guess that makes me a "Me Me Me guy" Here is a quick fairy tale for you..... There once was a WR named Javon Walker, now Javon Walker was a very good WR maybe one of the top 5 in the league. Now Javon Walker's team was making all types of money off of Javon Walker in jersey sales, and other types of merchandising not to mention his on field performance. One day Javon Walker goes to the troll who runs the Green Bay Packers and asks for a his value in pay..... well the troll laughed Javon all the way off Lomardi Way into the depths of holdout world. Some of Javon Walkers teammates are angry wih Javon, some including Prince Brett go to the media and rip Javon. Javon Walker decides he will do what is best for the team and take his below value salary and play for Green Bay. Well wouldn't you know it ? Early in the season Javon suffers a very devastating knee injury forcing him to miss the season. This story does have a happy ending as a King in a far away land known as Denver decides they like Javon Walker and want to pay him what he is worth. So now Javon rides for the Broncos of Denver where he will live happily ever after...... The moral of the story..... a career in the NFL is very short , in fact it could end tommorow. No contract is guarunteed just ask Charles Rogers.... oh and BTW I don't ever recall Mangini or Tanny saying they were bringing Rogers in for a tryout. You can hold that against the fans but not against the FO.
Every head coach talks about character guys, building a culture of winning, blah blah blah. It's nothing new. In reality they all do what they think is best for the team whether that goes against their "quotes" or not. Look at Parcells in Dallas with TO. People are critizing him for taking a hard line with TO when he's been known for having "special rules" for certain players. Here he's trying to do the right thing from a character and team point of view and he's still getting flack for it. People ready way too much into what coaches say. Very little if anything Mangini said when he started was different then we heard from Herm or BP when they took over. The difference is how they go about implementing their vision.
