The New England Patriots will not play this weekend after earning a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs, but they still will be the talk of football Friday morning.
ESPN is set to publish a story Friday morning detailing what is described as a “rift” in the organization between quarterback Tom Brady, head coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft.
The piece, which is written by renowned investigative reporter Seth Wickersham, reportedly will delve into the fractured relationship between the three, which stems from the question of who deserves the most credit for the dynasty’s success, according to Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch.
Allen also reported that one of the biggest bombshells of the piece is that Brady forced the trade of backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and that many Patriots believe this is the last year together for Brady, Belichick and Kraft.
Source: ESPN readying new hit piece on Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Robert Kraft set to publish tomorrow morning at 8am. The topic will be a power struggle among the trio as to who deserves the most credit for the dynasty.
— Bruce Allen (@bruceallen) January 5, 2018
The article claims that the rift is so severe many Patriots feel this is the last year together for the trio. Also that Brady went to Kraft to force Belichick to trade Jimmy G. ESPN is planning a full day of promotion tomorrow for the article and its author @SethWickersham
— Bruce Allen (@bruceallen) January 5, 2018
ESPN’s Sarah Spain confirmed the story will be published in a subsequent tweet, but did not discuss the content of the story.
Yes, the whole point was that we openly promoted Seth's article dropping tomorrow and his upcoming appearances on radio & SportsCenter. Then later Bruce's tweet was RT'd into my timeline so I was joking that the secret's out.
— Sarah Spain (@SarahSpain) January 5, 2018
ProFootballTalk reported Friday that the story will not state that Brady asked for Garoppolo to be traded.
ESPN story about Patriots is coming; per source, ESPN report will not claim Tom Brady tried to force Jimmy G. trade https://t.co/RP3i6jiEPc
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 5, 2018
Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard gave some of his thoughts on the reported piece Thursday night, giving props to Wickersham for being plugged in.
If @SethWickersham is writing it, I'm sure it's on point https://t.co/qF3gmTcOCS
— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) January 5, 2018
But Bedard also doubts that Brady explicitly asked for Garoppolo to be traded, believing it was more subtle than that.
Not in those words. More like constantly being in Kraft's ear about why Jimmy was still there, where Brady's extension was and how about some loyalty.
— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) January 5, 2018
And as for the “rift:”
I don't think there's a huge rift — more like some decent tension — but we'll see what Seth has to report.
— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) January 5, 2018
Wickersham already has dropped some bombshells on the NFL this season with his reporting on Roger Goodell and Jerry Jones, so this new piece is sure to be the talk of the NFL landscape for some time.
