Belichick adds touch of spice
He does not confirm or deny Patriots' interest in Peppers
By Christopher L. Gasper
Globe Staff / March 20, 2009
Belichick interview can be a little like the verbal version of a Rorschach test - subject to interpretation and variation depending on one's point of view. What was indisputable yesterday is that in a lengthy phone interview with WEEI, the Patriots coach never once said his team was not interested in obtaining Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers.
That will only further fuel the idea the Patriots are working to acquire Peppers. A source close to Peppers has made it clear the Patriots are on a short list of teams to which he would accept a trade.
Echoing the statement released by the Panthers Monday, Belichick pointed out that Carolina can't engage in trade discussions because Peppers hasn't signed his $16.68 million franchise tender. Belichick said there are no trade talks going on with Carolina.
Responding via text message, Carl Carey, Peppers's agent, said he has had no contact with the Patriots.
During the interview, Belichick called Peppers a "great player and still a young player" and said the 29-year-old Peppers "has a great future in this league."
He also left little doubt as to whether Peppers, a four-time Pro Bowl defensive end, would be able to make the switch to 3-4 linebacker, which is Peppers's wish.
"Certainly, Julius Peppers is one of the better players in the league," Belichick told WEEI. "He brings a lot of skill, and he has had a lot of production. What exactly he would do and how he would do it would be different in any system that he'd play in, but I think that he would play in whatever system he was in."
Belichick said he wouldn't be comfortable with having an agent broker a trade, which is usually how a sign-and-trade deal works. He seemed to suggest that before anything could happen, the Patriots would need Peppers to sign his franchise tender.
"I think if a player wants to be traded or wants to be in a position where he could be traded, then the best thing for that player to do is to do what Matt Cassel did, which is to sign the tender, be under contract," said Belichick. "Then go to the team and say, 'OK, I don't want to be here. You can trade me. Here is where I want to go.' Or the team can say look, 'Here is what we would accept for you.' That was essentially the Deion Branch situation. He ultimately wanted to be traded. We gave different teams permission to talk to him and ultimately traded him to Seattle. That's how a trade like that would work."
Belichick, who was in Florida scouting college players, also touched on the criticism the team received for trading Cassel for just a second-round pick and having to part with Mike Vrabel. That second-round pick (No. 34 overall) is what NFL.com reported the Patriots are using to try to acquire Peppers.
Page 2 of 2 --He didn't deny that Denver made a last-minute overture about a three-way trade that league sources said would have netted the Patriots a first-round pick, but said the Broncos, or any other team, never presented a concrete trade offer that was better than the deal they made.
"We pretty much had the deal done with Kansas City because there really wasn't any interest," said Belichick. "Some of the teams who said [we could do it] as part of a three-way trade and that kind of thing, I don't want to get into the specifics, but believe me, those teams I personally had contact with 24 to 48 hours before the confirmation of Matt's trade to Kansas City, and they said they had no interest in the player."
The Patriots weren't in a mood to wait because they needed to clear Cassel's $14.65 million franchise tag salary off their cap to move forward with their free agent signings. Belichick said there was no way the Patriots could have kept Cassel's salary and been as active in free agency.
"When we made the trade for Matt that brought us a draft choice, it also gave us the opportunity to sign some players that we think will give us good depth and good quality on our team," Belichick said. "It's all tied in together. I'd say a lot of the talk I've heard about, what would or wouldn't have been done, was A) after the fact, and B) would have been conditional on a lot of other things working out and there is no guarantee that all of that would have come together. The bottom line is that it was never really presented. It was like, 'Maybe, this could happen.' But it was never presented as, 'Here is a firm offer; here's a deal. Do you want to deal?' It never happened that way."
Belichick scoffed at the notion he passed up a potential better deal to help out Scott Pioli, who left the Patriots in January to become the general manager of the Chiefs.
"It's pretty ludicrous," said Belichick. "I have all the respect in the world for Scott and everything that he's done. He's a great friend. He's a terrific executive and personnel manager, but I work for the Patriots. I have no loyalty to anybody or any team other than the New England Patriots. Everything I do is for our team to win and be successful. I can't imagine that anybody would think that's any different."The Patriots officially announced the signing of veteran wide receiver Joey Galloway . . . According to a league source, the Patriots worked out West Virginia quarterback Pat White Wednesday. White worked out at wide receiver and quarterback.
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Interesting read and rare insight from Bill. 
