If you stayed off social media and read no news for the past three days, you probably think things are just returning to normal down in Foxboro.
You’re probably ready to stop hearing about the fruitless Brady-Belichick feud that’s been propagated by the media since several weeks prior to Super Bowl LII (damn you, Seth Wickersham). You’re probably expecting to hear about Brady’s training camp completion percentage and how he’s clicking with first-year slot receiver Braxton Berrios. You’ll probably check Facebook later tonight for Belichick’s latest quip to the media or Gronk’s post-practice interview.
Well, I’ve got news for you: Things are everything but back to normal at 1 Patriots Place. While it can be difficult to separate fact from speculation, we here at Third and Long pride ourselves on journalistic integrity. With that in mind, here are the things we know to be true from the last few days in the Patriots sphere (note that a hyperlink to each story is included):
Tom Brady showed up to mandatory minicamp from Tuesday to Thursday but made no commitment to attend the optional passing camp slated to begin next week
Brady and Belichick both denied any tension in their relationship (Brady here, Belichick here)
On Thursday, the NFL hit Julian Edelman with a 4-game suspension for violating the NFL’s PED policy and is currently appealing the decision
Later that day, trainer Alex Guerrero denied any responsibility for the failed drug test, describing the news as “disappointing”
On Friday, Edelman issued an apology statement via Instagram claiming he “do[es]n’t know what happened”
Rob Gronkowski was apparently acting “interesting” on the practice field this week; Mark Daniels reported that he “seemed… like he was free and happy”
Somewhere between fact and rumor (i.e., not officially confirmed but believed to be true)…
On Friday morning, Dan Lifshatz, producer of Felger and Mazz, reported that Patriots betting odds were removed from major sportsbooks for about an hour
While all of this was going on/being reported, there was a slew of rumors circulating about what was really transpiring behind the scenes in Foxboro. Here are the things that were reported but are entirely unconfirmed:
Someone on Reddit (Redditlover1981) correctly predicted the Edelman suspension 24 hours before the news dropped and claimed he had more Patriots news, later admitting that he actually had none (after sending the entirety of the sports world into a massive frenzy)
Several verified Twitter accounts made conflicting reports about whether or not a trade for Rob Gronkowski was on the table (Gronkowski later denied these rumors), the most interesting of which claiming that when he heard the news that Gronk might be dealt, Brady threatened to retire and compelled Bob Kraft to step in and veto the deal
ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio tweeted his conspiracy theory that the Patriots leaked the Edelman suspension news to put pressure on Brady to attend optional preseason workouts
Where to begin? Let’s start with the fact that this is probably the most dysfunction we’ve ever seen from the Patriots organization. Looking at the corroborated facts alone, the idea that the franchise quarterback, who’s being noncommittal about optional workouts for the first time in his career and has been indicted in at least one major cheating scandal, shares a personal trainer with a teammate who just got busted for PEDs is newsworthy. Oh, and that trainer happens to be one of the alleged sources of conflict between the quarterback and coach. We thought things were bad when the Wickersham piece dropped, and yet here we are today.
With regard to Florio’s Edelman conspiracy theory, I don’t think it had any real basis in fact; it was simply a tweet from the PFT Twitter account that wasn’t linked to any article or source. Still, it’s interesting that the news of Edelman’s suspension leaked, especially considering that most PED-related punishments aren’t announced until the completion of the appeals process. Maybe there were malicious reasons for the premature reveal, but I don’t think Florio was acting on any back-door information.
As for the Gronkowski rumors, I really wouldn’t be surprised if there were indeed trades on the table. I think the whole “Brady threatened to retire” piece is a bit of a stretch, but considering what we’ve seen this offseason, I wouldn’t count anything out. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s far-fetched to posit that Belichick is frustrated with Gronk’s and Brady’s apparent disregard for team expectations, and he wants to maximize the Gronk asset while it still has value. If dealing the 4x All-Pro provides another way for Belichick to put a bee under Brady’s bonnet, I wouldn’t put it past him to take advantage of the opportunity. However, given what we’ve heard in the last few days, I think it’s safe to assume that Gronk will be with the Pats for the 2018 campaign.
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