NFL News:

• Non-trade deadline things:
  • Percy Harvin has come out of retirement & signed with the Bills. They play the Seahawks on Monday night.
  • Terrell Owens is willing to come out of retirement / quit Cinnabon to play for the Eagles.
  • Andre Johnson retired from the Titans. T.O. was unavailable for comment.
    • He will go into the Hall of Fame as something called a “Texan”.
  • Jamaal Charles has gone on IR. He’ll be eligible to return in 8 weeks.
  • Eagles WR Josh Huff was arrested with weed & a gun in his car Tuesday morning. Oh – and speeding, because the police don’t have X-ray vision. Goodbye game checks; hello Crimebeat!
  • Trent Williams has been suspended 4 games for violating the “substances of abuse” policy
    • Armonty Bryant of the Lions has been given three games for something he did when on the Browns in 2015. From The Factory of Sadness to the Assembly Line of Miserableness, the fates will find you.

• A self-congratulatory self-blowjob was given by Mike Florio to Mike Florio today, as PFT celebrates 15 years of active ‘reporting’.

• The trade deadline was 4:00 PM Eastern, so let’s see who moved today:
  • Detroit traded for Buccaneers CB Johnthan Banks, in exchange for a conditional 7th-round pick
  • seriously, that’s all I could find before closing up shop at 5:00 DFO time.

• Yesterday’s big deal was Jamie Collins from the Pats to the Browns.
  • helping circle the wagons on this move is Mike Lombardi, who said this morning:
    • “Watch the tape. Jamie has not played particularly well,” Lombardi said on WEEI. “Sometimes freelancing is a problem, and I think sometimes effort is a problem.”
  • most speculation has this being a message to a bunch of people:
    • from Belichick to other players in their final year of a contract
      • rumors are that Collins was going to demand “Von Miller money”
        • message being: no one gets paid more than Brady
    • from Belichick to all players not named Brady – you aren’t untouchable
      • he’ll trade a potential headache
      • he’ll trade a better talent, so lesser-calibre players shouldn’t demand as much
    • from Belichick to players who don’t want to “buy in”
      • CBS published rumours that one reason for the trade was because Collins doesn’t like to watch tape.
        • “I didn’t grow up watching football, and I still don’t […] I never thought I’d be here, and I’d rather play video games. I don’t really want to watch it.”
  • Apparently, “The Patriot Way” involves spend free time on a Surface watching plays & taking a salary discount in order to play on a contender.

To most Canadians, this type of move by the Patriots reads right out of “Net Worth“, the fantastic book about the struggles of NHL players to start their Players Association and the forces that held them back. If you want to know why the name “Alan Eagleson” is a curse word, read this. Also, if you ever hated on Eric Lindros – it’ll either reinforce your opinion or let you understand where he was coming from.

The part that sticks out here to me is Belichick using Brady’s salary & status as a hammer to keep others down. For years, the Red Wings used to say to players asking for more money, “Well, do you think you deserve more than Gordie?” Howe himself would only sign deals that gave him a $1000 raise on the previous year, because he wanted to be a “good company man”. Only when Bobby Baun told Howe to his face in 1968 how he was holding back other players did Gordie ask for a substantial raise. Here’s the money quote:

Howe would later confront Norris and then sign a $100,000 contract. Reportedly Howe said to Norris “Here I’ve been playing all these years for you and you just give me that now?” Norris replied, “Gordie, you never asked for anything more. I’m a businessman.”

Belichick & Kraft do it because it works. Tom Brady is just more conniving, because he should know better, and he’s hurting other players’ earning potential under the guise of being “cap-friendly”. Remember: all of them colluded to rework his 2016 contract so he’d get a two-year extension through 2019, $1.0 million in salary and $28 million in a signing bonus, so he could avoid losing 1/4 of it to his suspension. Here’s what it looks like: (chart from Sportrac)

No wonder Goodell gave him 4 games; he’ll never get the salary clauses out of the Collective Agreement. Never mind Trump’s shenanigans, this is right out in public.

Tonight’s TV sports:

• MLB: Cubs at Indians – 8:00 | FOX/Sportsnet
• NHL:
  • Lightning at Islanders – 7:30 PM | NBCSN
  • Sharks at Coyotes – 10:00 PM | NBCSN
• College Football:
  • Bowling Green at Northern Illinois – 8:00 PM | ESPNU
  • Western Michigan at Ball State – 8:00 PM | ESPN2
• NBA:
  • Houston at Cleveland – 6:00 – NBATV/Sportsnet1
  • Golden State at Portland – 10:00 – NBATV/TSN