In the months leading to the Patriots' inevitable trade for wide receiver A.J. Brown, now known as the worst-kept secret in the NFL this offseason, there was a lot of speculation and even ugly rumors about potential tampering, stemming from the alleged affair between Mike Vrabel and NFL insider Dianna Russini.
Much of the discussion about the Patriots and Eagles agreeing on a trade came from Russini, who was now directly linked to the head coach, leading many to conclude she was putting out reports to benefit New England's pursuit.
Whether there's truth to that is hard to say, especially since other insiders like Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter were also reporting on the trade, but it's still lingering in the minds of many Eagles fans and analysts.
That's likely why someone like Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is floating a new theory to explain what he believes was a massive overpay by the Patriots to acquire Brown.
Mike Florio floats outrageous reason for the Patriots' agreeing to the price of the A.J. Brown trade
While discussing the trade last week, the longtime reporter suggested that the Patriots, more specifically, Vrabel, were willing to give up a first-round pick and a fifth-rounder to divert the conversation about the Patriots from his alleged affair to the trade.
On top of that, Florio believes it was the organization's way of avoiding any tampering allegations, since many had already mentioned that before the trade, and that's why they didn't hesitate to give the Eagles what they wanted.
"Getting the deal done helped turn the page on the Mike Vrabel Dianna Russini situation. There were a lot of Eagles fans that were raising the question of tampering and whether and to what extent there was collusion between Vrabel and Russini...
I'm just wondering whether or not the Patriots were willing to overpay a bit to not get themselves into a tampering jackpot. We don't know, but it would explain the willingness when you don't have to give up a one and a five for a guy that the Eagles aren't going to keep!"
While he makes a fair point about how the Eagles were nearly forced to trade Brown this offseason after all the troubles that got them to this point, other reports suggest that GM Howie Roseman wanted more than just a first-round pick in return for the receiver.
In fact, it was reported that he wanted a second-rounder, too, but Eliot Wolf was unwilling to give up that much draft capital and dared Roseman to try and get that deal from another team.
As we know, that didn't happen, and from most accounts, the Patriots were the only serious team inquiring about Brown, so taking what they were willing to give, which was a first-round pick, was likely Roseman's only choice.
To some, a first-round pick was already too much for an aging receiver with potential knee concerns, and maybe that's what Florio is mostly referring to. However, getting a receiver of Brown's caliber doesn't come cheap, as we just saw with the Bills trading for DJ Moore and the Broncos for Jaylen Waddle.
If they really wanted Brown on the team, they knew the price, and he's arguably more proven than Moore and Waddle, so the ends justify the means.
But the suggestion that it was all just to cover up an alleged affair and/or tampering seems like a reach, especially since other insiders besides Russini linked the Patriots and Brown all offseason long. It was an inevitable trade, regardless of whether the Vrabel and Russini story came out.
This just feels like keeping a negative story alive and trying to spin it into a new controversy, rather than reporting on what is actually happening, and that's unfortunately nothing new when it comes to the Patriots.
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