SmashMouth

There are three main figures in the Patriots’ present. One owns the team. One coaches it. And one quarterbacks it.

And if we’re going to start in on the future of the franchise, and where we go in the wake of Friday’s bombshell report from ESPN’s Seth Wickersham, it has to begin there.

The owner, Robert Kraft, is clearly going nowhere. The quarterback, Tom Brady, isn’t either, not after the Jimmy Garoppolo trade that left Brady as the only long-term option for the team at the game’s most important position, and not with his desire, at 40, to play another half-decade in the NFL.

That leaves Belichick, 65 years old and the greatest coach in the sport’s history.

So here’s what I believe: Belichick didn’t want to deal Garoppolo but knew Kraft wouldn’t entertain the idea of trading Brady. And here’s the chain of events, as I know it …

• In a quarterback-starved market last spring (Mike Glennon was the top veteran available, Mitch Trubisky was the first QB drafted), the Patriots flatly told teams showing interest in Garoppolo that he wasn’t available. That made one team, already smitten with the QB, even more interested. “You respect so much the way the Patriots do things,” 49ers GM John Lynch told me last week, “the fact they weren’t willing to let [Garoppolo] go said something.”

• One reason the Patriots hung on to Garoppolo was a belief that they could keep Brady and Garoppolo together past 2017. Through the spring and summer there were attempts to get Garoppolo to agree to a new deal, and a willingness to carry two starting-quarterback-level contracts on their books. The problem? They couldn’t give Garoppolo the one thing he wanted: playing time. Another solution would be franchise-tagging Garoppolo in 2018, which would be logistically difficult but could facilitate a trade. In fact, the Patriots pulled off such a trade in dealing Matt Cassel while he was tagged in 2009.

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RailBoss

The Belichick rumor going to the Giants was most likely started by Bill himself. If he leaves NE the era ends and the NYG's era begins.

vpheughan

Funny, some EGGSPURTS had him being traded to the Saints last year for their Number 1 pick?

QBREES9

It's never going to happen. Crazy talk

neugey

This is all just a red herring. The Pats guys are probably as tight as ever.

st thomas

and i had a dream payton to the giants in a block buster trade after superbowl, someone from this saints team is going to giants i dream true, dill dilly. hopefully its tommy lee