Deion Branch talks Pats, Brady
FOXBOROUGH – Former Patriots receiver Deion Branch held a conference call with New England reporters today, and he talked about how much he was looking forward to catching up with his old teammates.
Branch said he plans to visit the Patriots’ team hotel when the players arrive into town Friday, and has dinner plans that night with some of his old teammates.
Sunday’s game between the Seahawks and Patriots marks the first time Branch has faced his former team since leaving New England via trade at the start of the 2006 season. Branch said he was looking at his playbook today, and when he saw the Patriots helmet, it struck him.
“It will be a little strange, but for the most part, I’ll be excited to play against my friends,” he said.
Branch said he keeps in touch with several Patriots players, including quarterback Tom Brady.
“We’ve texted a whole lot,” Branch said. “When he went down, I felt bad because I was at the end of my ACL recovery, and knowing what he was about to go through.
“It’s nothing to him. He’s a strong guy. He’s going to prevail. He’s going to be all right. You have to be mentally strong to [overcome] this type of injury. A lot of guys come back from it, but a lot of guys are not mentally back from the injury when they come back. He’ll be OK.
“I talk to him a lot, I text him a lot, we chat back and forth. Not only Tom, I talk to a bunch of the guys on the team.”
Other players Branch keeps in touch with include defensive end Ty Warren, nose tackle Vince Wilfork, safety Rodney Harrison, running back Kevin Faulk and tight end Benjamin Watson, among others.
“The biggest thing is we shared a lot of memories together,” Branch said.
Branch was asked what it would be like to see coach Bill Belichick and members of the front office, given that his departure from New England via holdout/trade was somewhat acrimonious.
“I don’t think it will be awkward, because I think both sides understand what happened,” he said. “Who knows down the line? We may see each other again. Who knows? I’ll see those guys at the hotel when I go over to pick up the other guys, and I’m going to shake their hands, and hug them. We’ll talk about a couple things here and there, and we’ll move on.”
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Haha! You know the Pats front office wont foster any bad blood towards peon deion. They turned him into Randy Moss and Jerod Mayo! Deion Branch is a distant memory around these parts and hes kidding himself if he thinks otherwise.
Deon Branch is a low-life. He wanted out for greedy reasons.
Have the Patriot's received the 1 milllion dollars in fines Deion owes them for missing training camp in 2006? I've been losing sleep trying to find the answer to this question. Maybe he will hand the Krafts a check at dinner.
Stay healthy Deon. Thanks for all the memories and clutch plays :)
The pats trading him for the first round pick started the getting randy Moss and jerod mayo
Your wrong to criticize him - if he was on this team in '06 we were, at the very least, IN the Super Bowl another year. Instead Caldwell, literally, dropped the ball.
I wouldn't be suprised if a lot of these Deion Branch, Asante Samuel guys came back at some point in their career. Frankly, Belichick likes them better at the beginning of their career and tail end so he doesn't have to pay them prime of career $'s. He and Pioli figure there's only a hair difference in ability there.
How can you say something like this. If you are a PATS fan then you have to get a clue. Deion Branch was are #1 WR when we had no one. And one Superbowls with is. I know Randy moss is better but he is certainly not forgotten. I just hope to God you guys are sports fans because if you are, then you really have to start watching a little closer.
Let by gones be by gones. I would take Branch in a flash. Wouldn't he look nice playing along side Moss, Welker and Gaffney. They would have the best ends in the NFL.
branch was clutch, played big in the two superbowls and could have been the mvp both times. he wanted to get paid like a number 1 and obviously the seahawks felt he should be. the patriots would have won in 2006 if branch were still with the team instead of caldwell.
I'd trade for him over Jabar drop the ball Gaffney any day. And we WOULD have another super bowl if he was here in 2006. We would have beaten the colts and there's not a chance Rex Grossman could have beaten the Pats. Owell, he was huge for us and hope he does well in the future, just not on Sunday
for the record, we did not get Mayo because of Branch leaving, we got Mayo because the 49ers picked up tully banta-cain as a unrestricted free agent and in return we got there 1st round draft pick, result Mayo
What's he done with Seattle? I know he's been mostly injured, but I'm always looking for him on the highlight reel when he starts a game, and he just hasn't made that many plays. Seems like Brady makes receivers look better than they actually may be.
Still, who's ever gonna forget Caldwell's wide open drop at the 11 that kept us from the Superbowl. If Branch had been with us AND healthier than he's been with the Seahawks, he would have DEFINITELY brought us into the Superbowl against Chicago and it would have been a hell of a lot different than the 1986 Superbowl.
Smarter than you? We got mayo because we traded our 26(i think) first round pick in '07 for SF's in '08, which they used on tackle Joe Staley. Turned out good for us becuase they didn't do too well that year, so the 08 first round pick turned out to be pick #8.
You guys are FOOLS if you think Deion Branch left town for selfish reasons. He is a class act. He wasn't holding out for something ridiculously lucrative; just looking for something fair. I have nothing in the world but respect for Deion Branch and, if he can get healthy, would love to have him back here. Some of you guys drink too much Patriots kool-aid.
"smarter then you",
If I am not mistaken, Patriots drafted Meriweather with that Seattle 1st round pick, and traded their own 1st rounder to SF in exchange for the pick they used to draft Mayo a year later. While it's not exactly the Branch pick turned into Mayo and Moss, it is reasonable to assume that without that extra pick, Patriots might have used its own pick to draft some one, as opposed to trading it to 49ers. One thing is clear, it had nothing to do with Banta-Cain. As far as I know, loss of a free agent is compensated much less in football than in MLB. The 49ers would be insane to lose a first round pick for Banta-Cain.
Tom Brady made Branch a better receiver..His injuries in Seattle happened because his quarterback there exposes him to hard hits almost every time he catches the ball..if you recall, when Branch was in New england, he usually caught the ball on the fly and had all kinds of running room after the catch..Brady to Branch was a great match..
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