The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

"Bill Belichick's quest to take over the world with an army of tight ends has cost the New York Giants Jake Ballard. The Giants waived Ballard, who tore his ACL in the Super Bowl, on Monday thinking he'd clear waivers and they'd be able to sign him right back and put him on injured reserve because he was probably going to miss the season anyway. They told him he was in their plans for 2013, and as far as they knew, he was.

But Ballard did not clear waivers. He was claimed by the Patriots, who likely will be able to retain him next year as an exclusive rights free agent if he gets healthy in the meantime. The Patriots now have five tight ends on their roster, including star starters Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, and obviously did not have a need at the position. "

andyjens89 wrote:This is kind of funny. I doubt Ballard even plays this year, but I love how the Patriots took a shot at the Giants by claiming a guy they were planning on bringing back.

andyjens89 wrote:Oh, and I wouldn't put it past Mara and the Giants trying to get Goodell to go after New England and take some of their cap space or draft picks for breaking "unwritten rules".

yupchagee wrote:

andyjens89 wrote:Oh, and I wouldn't put it past Mara and the Giants trying to get Goodell to go after New England and take some of their cap space or draft picks for breaking "unwritten rules".

I agree

Giants coach Tom Coughlin admitted Wednesday he was “very disappointed” to lose tight end Jake Ballard on waivers, while New England coach Bill Belichick sloughed off the idea he violated one of the league’s unwritten rules in picking up the injured tight end.

“First of all, there aren’t any unwrittens,” Belichick said, via ESPNBoston.com. “You can’t negotiate a contract, release him, and then re-negotiate another contract with him that was already done in advance. I’m sure the Giants weren’t doing that. So the player is on waivers, he’s on waivers — ours or anybody else’s. I don’t know what unwrittens you’re talking about.

“Any time you put a player on waivers, you know there are 31 teams out there that can take him if they want him. We all know that. There is no secrets about that.”

Belichick’s explanation comes as no surprise.

Like coach Tom Coughlin expressed earlier in the day, Giants general manager Jerry Reese said he was “disappointed” to lose tight end Jake Ballard to New England in what is becoming the most-discussed waiver-claim in years.

That does not mean, however, that Reese wants to discuss it.

“I could explain it but I don’t want to explain it,” Reese said on SiriusXM NFL Radio, via the New York Daily News. “Because it’s really irrelevant at this point. All I want to say about Jake is he did a tremendous job for us and we hope he gets well soon. It’s really pointless for me at this point to try explain it to people.

“It’s rare that somebody takes a guy under these conditions off the waiver wire but it happened and we wish Jake all the best.”

It’s clear the Giants were expecting to get Ballard back to stash him on IR, after he needed ACL and microfracture surgery.

“First of all, there aren’t any unwrittens,” Belichick said, via ESPNBoston.com.