New England Patriots: Bill Belichick shuts down several reports from the ESPN article

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick shut down multiple reports from the ESPN article reporting a rift within the organization.

When New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick took the podium Monday morning, he made it clear that he never once read the ESPN article published by Seth Wickersham.

Belichick stated that he “absolutely” plans on coaching the Patriots in 2018 and is “not really interested in responding to all those random, and I would say in a lot of cases, baseless comments.”

Later on Monday afternoon, Belichick appeared on DaleHolleyWEEI, and got into some of the specifics of the report. A majority of what Belichick had to say went against the reports within the ESPN article.

When talking about his relationship with owner Robert Kraft and quarterback Tom Brady, Belichick described it as “great”.

"“Great. Great. 18 years with Tom and 22 with Robert. Been great. Appreciate everything Robert has done for me.”"

He then went on to mention “because it was part of the article”, his relationship with Tom Brady’s trainer, Alex Guerrero.

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"“I think we’re talking about a lot of inaccuracies [in the ESPN story]. I respect Alex and I think I have a good professional relationship with him.”"

Belichick was also asked if Kraft has ever told him to make a trade he didn’t want to in the ESPN article, regarding the reported “mandate” Kraft assigned him to trade Garoppolo.

"“We’ve never done that. We talk about things organizationally and make organizational decisions.”"

This comment sounds quite similar to those made by Robert Kraft to MMQB’s Peter King regarding the situation.

"“Until Monday at the trade deadline — I believe that was Oct. 30 — the last time I talked to Bill about Jimmy’s situation was in a group with Bill, (Patriots president) Jonathan (Kraft), (director of player personnel) Nick Caserio … a small group of us, I think in June,” Kraft told King. “That is the last time I talked to Bill about it. I would see Nick occasionally and say, ‘Anything going on’"

Another part of the ESPN report Belichick was questioned about was meeting with Roger Goodell last week. Wickersham’s full report on the meeting read:

"“[Belichick] has even become good friends with Goodell.”"

The two men had a long and private meeting, which two sources told ESPN occurred during the off week after the regular season when the commissioner visited Foxborough.”

The NFL came out and denied the alleged statement, and Belichick did the same calling the report “absolutely not true.” Belichick also noted that he hadn’t seen Goodell since the Patriots played the Raiders during the regular season.

On an appearance with WEEI Kirk and Callahan, Wickersham continues to maintain a meeting was held last week in Foxboro, even though the NFL and Belichick denied it.

"“They are good friends and that is something I could have been more clear about,” he said. “I don’t know if it was just a visit last week, but they had long meetings the past couple of years. They talk about different rule discussions. They have been friends. They hugged on the stage during the trophy presentation at the Super Bowl last year. It’s a fascinating relationship and I think the context that I wrote that in is — I don’t know when Coach Belichick is going to walk away from the NFL. I think there’s a sense that he’s taking a longer view and looking at impacts across the league as he tries to as shrewdly and competitively as ever to pursue another Super Bowl this year.”"

Even with Kraft, Brady and now Belichick calling the whole report false and “baseless”, Wickersham is standing by his reporting.

Next: Patriots: Finding The Flaws In The ESPN Report

He reported that he spoke with “multiple” players on the roster and “think[s] the reporting process in a story like this has to remain as confidential as possible. I was as transparent as I could be in the story.”