Friday, August 25, 2006

Patriots Give Permission for Branch to Seek Trade

By The Associated Press

The New England Patriots gave holdout wide receiver Deion Branch a week to seek a trade and negotiate a contract with another team.

Branch, the 2005 Super Bowl MVP and the team's top receiver, has permission to seek a new team until Sept. 1, the team said Friday.

Branch is scheduled to earn $1.045 million this season, the last of his original five-year contract, but he wants a new deal. He has refused to report to the Patriots' mandatory preseason minicamp and its ongoing training camp.

Coach Bill Belichick has declined to discuss the situation, saying he'll talk only about players that are with the team.

Branch led the Patriots with 78 catches and 998 yards receiving last season

The Patriots began training camp without their top two receivers from last year. David Givens signed as a free agent with Tennessee during the offseason.


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Deion Branch situation is interesting, though I think New England clearly holds the upper hand here.
I blogged about this and explained why at www.touchdown2006.com today.