Tom Brady is upset with the Pats for dealing his best offensive lineman, Logan Mankins. Pro bowler Mankins had reportedly repeatedly refused to take a two million dollar pay reduction and Mankins had a poor year last year, allowing ten sacks from his position.
Of course, no one in that organization appears to care about that and haven't in a while. Tom has passed the tipping point of personal power. He's too good at his position not to pay and keep, but he's too close to the day when he's Bledsoed to have any real power now. Favre hit that particular and it ultimately led him out the door and elsewhere.
Some talking heads on ESPN are shaking them at the move, but suggesting, as Skip Bayless did, that we should have confidence that Bill and company know what they're doing. But do they? Maybe retaining a few of the players they let go for cheaper pastures might have seen New England back in the actual big game in the years since they stopped being a prohibitive AFC favorite.
Or is what the front office primarily doing attempting to win within a cost/benefit analysis that gives them what they want out of it financially? Are we seeing a sort of moneyball, quietly being played out and with a general level of success that is hard to argue with in terms of w/l and revenue/value production. The Pats continue to grow toward the top spot in individual team value, outpacing the self professed America's team, the Dallas Cowboys.
