FOXBORO, MA - JANUARY 10: Logan Mankins #70 of the New England Patriots and Ed Reed #20 of the Baltimore Ravens get in each others face during the 2010 AFC wild-card playoff game at Gillette Stadium on January 10, 2010 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Logan Mankins;Ed Reed
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Patriots owner Robert Kraft came awfully close to calling ESPN’s Adam Schefter a “false rumor mongerer” on Monday.
In response to a report by Schefter on Sunday that guard Logan Mankins nixed a deal with the Patriots after they asked him to apologize publicly, Kraft tried to set the record straight on WEEI. Kraft said the team offered Mankins a contract similar to the one Nick Mangold received from the Jets, but there was never an agreement.
“That is a bold-faced fib,” Kraft said, according to multiple accounts. “We have never had a deal with Logan.”
But here’s the thing: Schefter never said there was a done deal. He said there was significant progress made, and that a deal was getting close. The crux of Schefter’s story was that progress was derailed when the Patriots asked for an apology.
Kraft addressed that as well, but didn’t really clear up the issue.
“Those comments [Mankins] made in the public media, he said he regretted them and in retrospect, he knew they were not true,” Kraft said, via Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald. “I accepted his apology, because he’s a very high-quality guy. I also said, ‘Logan, it would be nice if that was made public because I’m hoping to do a deal with you and I don’t want people to think that how you do a deal is to say that.
“He said, ‘Look, Mr. Kraft, I feel bad. I will correct this either when I sign with the Patriots or when I get traded and sign somewhere else.’ He said, ‘My hope is that I’ll be a Patriot and go into the Patriot Hall of Fame.’ I said the same thing to him.”
It sounds like we’re getting two different recollections of the same event.