The Patriots have really done some disastorous contract negotiations over the past few months.  First they let Adam Vinatieri go for no particular reason.  Then they let David Givens go and get signed by the Tennessee Titans.  The final contract offer they gave to Givens probably would have been good enough to re-sign him if they had offered it a year before his contract expired instead of once he became a free agent.  I thought to myself, “OK, they’re being stingy with the money so they’ll have enough to extend Branch’s contract.”  But they’ve completely failed in the negotiations with Deion Branch as well.  They were unwilling to offer him what he wanted, decided to let him look for a trade (apparently assuming that would validate their opinion that he was asking too much) and of course he got huge offers from the Jets and Seahawks.  The Patriots wouldn’t accept a trade from either team and now faces the prospect of Branch holding out for most of the season before becoming a free agent next season.

It seems that the Patriots valuations of how much players are worth are warped from the reality of the league.  The Patriots thought that Vinatieri, Givens, and Branch would not be able to find the offers they were looking for from other teams, but they were wrong in all three cases.  I don’t know if it is because the Patriots have not adjusted to the much bigger salary cap this year or if they are just extremely cheap.  Not only are they losing good players, but the situation with Branch is certainly creating some bad blood between them and probably making other players wary of signing here.  It’s not a good situation for anyone involved right now.