'Joe Thomas Says Instability May Have Cost Browns Chance To Trade For Jimmy Garoppolo In Podcast'

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2018/01/11...ability-costly/

By Daryl Ruiter | 92.3 The FanJanuary 11, 2018 at 1:19 pm

CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – The failure by the Browns to trade for Jimmy Garoppolo remains a sore subject for Cleveland fans.

As more and more accounts and reporting on what went down on Oct. 30th surface, it becomes pretty clear that it wasn’t Sashi Brown’s fault.

Browns left tackle Joe Thomas peeled back the curtain on why Garoppolo ended up with the 49ers in the second episode of UNITERRUPTED’s ‘ThomaHawk Show’ podcast featuring him and former Browns receiver Andrew Hawkins, which was released Thursday.

“I remember being in the building and in Cleveland when we heard that Garoppolo was traded and I had some discussions with people in our building in the front office and they were just as perplexed about what happened as anybody in the media because the people in Cleveland have had a great working relationship with the Patriots Front office,” Thomas, who referenced previous trades involving Jamie Collins and Barkevious Mingo between the 2 teams, said. “The Browns people said to the Patriots, ‘If Jimmy Garoppolo is ever available, make sure we’re the first ones you call because we would love to make a deal.’

“There was definitely plenty of overtures throughout the season, and then to see that he was traded to San Francisco without the Browns even getting a phone call was sort of the confusion on everyone’s part, like ‘wait a minute. We would’ve out-bid everybody.'”

Thomas confirmed what had been previously reported – Bill Belichick did not want to send Garoppolo to the Browns because of the constant change and instability the franchise has had.

“Basically Belichick wanted to send Garoppolo to a place where he knew there was going to be long-term stability and he was likely to have success and then re-sign there,” Thomas said. “I know that Belichick’s relationship with [49ers head coach Kyle] Shanahan was really important because Belichick believes that Shanahan is going to be very successful in San Francisco and he believes that he;s going to turn Jimmy into the great quarterback that Belichick believes that he can be.

“And Belichick was worried that if he opened up Garoppolo to the highest bidder and sent him to a place that’s known for instability – which is Cleveland – that within a year that player, Jimmy Garoppolo, is going to be on the free market and he had a very good chance that he was going to sign either with Buffalo or the New York Jets – both of them who are looking for a franchise quarterback. And [if Garoppolo ends up being as good as Belichick thinks], he thought he’d end up beating the Patriots twice a year with Jimmy Garoppolo as quarterback and that would be something that would be unpalatable for Bill Belichick.”

Brown was fired as executive vice president of football operations on Dec. 7, 2017 and less than 12 hours later he was replaced by John Dorsey, who was named general manager.

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Joe's tweets, same subject:

'Joe Thomas’s take on the Jimmy Garoppolo situation will crack you up'

https://www.patspulpit.com/2018/1/8/1686...francisco-49ers

From three days ago:

How Cleveland Browns were frozen out of Jimmy Garoppolo deal -- Terry Pluto

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf...art_river_index

Updated Jan 8; Posted Jan 8

By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer terrypluto2003@yahoo.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Jimmy Garoppolo trade to the San Francisco 49ers never made much sense.

The 49ers traded a second-round pick, a rather modest price for the New England Patriots highly-regarded backup quarterback.

The Patriots also were able to add veteran Brian Hoyer as a backup. Hoyer was with the 49ers. Part of the deal was the 49ers would release Hoyer, allowing him to sign with the Patriots.

That's exactly what happened.

But the strange part was the Browns were willing to offer more for Garoppolo.

Much, much more.

At first, I thought, "I guess Hoyer was the key."

But I also thought, "There is something strange about this deal."

I made calls to several league sources.

On November 4, I wrote about how the Browns had last talked to the Patriots on October 28.

They couldn't even start a conversation. They were told Garoppolo wasn't available.

They said more than once, "If you are open to trading him, please call."

Two days later, he was traded to the 49ers.

An in-depth ESPN story by Seth Wickersham highlighted all the internal battles with the Patriots.

It was clear coach Bill Belichick wanted to keep Garoppolo. That's why he resisted any serious trade talks about the backup quarterback for more than year.

Even more to that point, the Patriots traded another backup quarterback -- Jacoby Brissett. He was shipped to the Indianapolis Colts on September 2 for Philip Dorsett, a wide receiver.

Why would Belichick trade both of his young quarterbacks within two months, leaving only 40-year-old Tom Brady and Hoyer as quarterbacks for next season?

WHO MADE THE CALL?

ESPN basically said Belichick was forced into trading Garoppolo by ownership.

The Patriots have denied it.

But it's just odd.

Apparently, the only team Belichick discussed the trade with was San Francisco.

Cleveland and other teams had been calling about Garoppolo. This would have been a perfect time for Belichick to leverage the deal, piling up offers -- maybe even putting together a three-way trade.

Never happened.

ESPN reported Belichick had a meeting with Patriots owner Robert Kraft:

"It ended with a clear mandate to Belichick ... trade Garoppolo because he would not be in the team's long-term plans ... Belichick was furious and demoralized ... he did his job. One morning in late October, Belichick texted 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan to call him..."

Supposedly, there was a rift between Brady and Garoppolo. Belichick believed Garoppolo was the future. Kraft wanted to keep Brady happy.

Kraft owns the team.

Belichick only talked to one team, according to ESPN.

That matched what I was told and wrote on November 3.

For what it's worth, in an interview with Monday Morning Quarterback's Peter King, Kraft denied ordering Belichick to trade Garoppolo.

Kraft called the report "a total fabrication and fiction."

BACK IN CLEVELAND

I received some criticism from readers when I wrote how the Browns never had a shot at Garoppolo in that November 3 story.

They said I was making excuses for former Browns vice president Sashi Brown.

There were other reports of the front office people going home early near the deadline. The Garoppolo deal was supposed to show they were not doing their jobs.

But the information I received back then was right, even though it made little sense to me.

Truth is: The Browns (and everyone else but San Francisco) never had a chance to discuss a Garoppolo deal.

I know that Brown was willing to part with Houston's first-round pick and other goodies. He would have been willing to help Belichick shop around for a backup quarterback to help the trade work.

The front office was especially baffled because they had made two trades with New England.

On August 25, 2016, they shipped Barkevious Mingo to the Patriots for a 2017 fifth-round pick.

On October 31, 2016, the Patriots traded Jamie Collins to the Browns for a 2017 third-round pick.

The Patriots have their own version of analytics and have used it for decades.

The Browns and Patriots were able to find common ground for other trades.

That's why the Browns were so confused when they were consistently frozen out of trade talks for Garoppolo.

And then even more baffled when they checked with other teams trying to deal for Garoppolo and heard the same story.

Only San Francisco was given a chance to trade for a franchise-changing quarterback.

Two words come to mind: "Diminishing skills".

Sounds like Bill wanted to begin paving the way for Jimmy G to take the reins and Brady trumped him by running to Kraft.

Nothing was Sashi Brown's fault. He was a genius who was unfairly fired. That is why he is being interviewed for so many personnel positions in the NFL and has received multiple offers.

Sashi Brown is gone. No amount of complaining, whining, and assigning blame is going to change that.

I kinda think the same thing. It is interesting to me.

Quit whining for Hue to be fired.

Remember when you made all that stuff up about no one wanting to do trades with Sashi? That was funny.

What?

Are you calling me a liar? I think I repeated what was said in articles. Big deal.

Do you remember when you laughed at me for suggesting that some of you would want Hue fired? That was funny.

Are we going to go down this road again, Memphis?

I really don't wish to talk to you.

Sashi never had a chance .... NOTHING HE COULD HAVE DONE in this case ...

It doesn’t excuse him from not calling on Monday also ... he did call on Friday and they wouldn’t even discuss it .... it almost sounds like he didn’t get past the receptionist .... *L* ..

He should have called on Monday .... but this was not his fault ....

BB sent him to the SAFEST PLACE possible ... and got Hoyer the only viable back up ... and it gives JG the best chance to become great and make BB look like a GENIUS long after Brady’s gone ...

Over the past few years, I have read excuse after excuse for Sashi Brown from you and several others.

If he was so good and not at all responsible for what has transpired in Cleveland, why is he not even getting any interviews for personnel jobs in the NFL?

Excuses are for...........

I don’t know what you think is going on.

There are very few, if any, posters around here defending Sashi’s overall job performance.

However, as been repeatedly said and reported, in THIS case, there’s was literally nothing anybody in the building could’ve done to get Jimmy G here. It just wasn’t happening.

So please do everyone a favor and stop pushing this false narrative that this was on Sashi. In this very specific case, it was not.

There’s plenty to blame Sashi for that justifies his firing. This isn’t one of them.

There are a lot of things you don't know.

If you don't see the posts from a certain portion of this board who freaked out every time Sashi was questioned and are now hijacking every thread by blaming Hue...........than God help you.

But yeah, I'll stop. Sashi is GREAT. That is why he is being overwhelmed w/offers right now. LMAO

Agreed. They both deserved to be fired. Hue getting Mangini'd in 2018.

Or Caldwelle'd. Or Pagano'd. Or Schottenheimer'd. Or (nearly) Mularkey'd. Or a bunch of others.

Anyway, the whole Garoppolo situation is pretty clear. We've had multiple sources from multiple cities from multiple publications report, basically, the same story. A person would have to be trying to present the situation in a way that suits their narrative to not see what happened.

Either way, the team failed in not acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo. The failure occurred, mainly, because of the lack of stability in the organization due to Jimmy Haslam's itchy trigger finger.

The most interesting thing about this story is why Garoppolo was traded at the time he was traded. Bill Belichick could have gotten more value both before and after the season. And why only the 49ers? There are many other teams that would have loved to have him, why didn't they pick up the phones? I'm sure the Jaguars would have given up a first round pick no problem for Garoppolo. Or the Cardinals. Or the Broncos. Or the Bills.

Your doing the exact same thing to Sashi that the posters you despise are doing to Hue ... So your reaction to posters whose behavior U DESPISE is to act like them ...

U can’t figure out why trading him to the Bills would have been MORONIC .... really? ...

Why would he make the Jags the best team in football?

The Donks would become challengers overnight with that trade ...

Plus the Jags and Donks are in his conference ....

NO OTHER TEAM HAD HOYER!!!!!

That's not true.

It doesn’t excuse him from not calling on Monday also

Was not Sunday the Deadline for the trading period???

Thanks, Eo. I thought that was the deal on dates, too. Why would he?

j/c

I feel if I were to believe anyone that has written an article or made public comments about this situation it would be Joe Thomas. Now Thomas didn't come right out and mention any names, but if instability in this organization was the catalyst for BB to exclude us from consideration in the JG trade, the responsibility for that lies directly on the shoulders of Jimmy Haslam.

It's almost like I said those teams for a reason.

JC

Still find it humorous that people think there was ever a chance of JG being our franchise QB. If there was a trade, he would be gone after one year... and probably playing BB twice a year in the same division. Bill didn't want to trade him, once it was clear that he had to, he made a wise choice... Get him as far away from New England as possible (NFC) and get a known commodity in return. Hoyer is not going to set the world on fire but he is the perfect back-up in the short term. It's a hard word for us to pronounce in Cleveland - con-tin-uity.

The only chance of JG being our QB was in the 2014 draft... and we "screwed the pooch".

Not true.

He would have been here 3 years at least. This past season (however many games), then franchised the next 2. Then if we are winning he would have signed a long term contract.

Tuesday.

No ... he was traded on Monday and the trade deadline was on Tuesday ...

Well, I guess if we're just going to take the crystal ball approach instead of common sense... He would have been here for 5 games, faked an injury, told the media and fans he didn't want to be here and threatened to retire.

If your crystal ball is better than mine (even though we all KNOW he doesn't want to play in Cleveland), is that what you want in a franchise QB? One that you force to be your franchise QB? No thanks.