Jim Nantz interviews Tom Brady as Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick look on. (Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Friday morning, ESPN published a story by Seth Wickersham entitled "For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, is this the beginning of the end?"
The piece alleged that tensions between Patriots owner Bob Kraft, head coach Bill Belichick, and quarterback Tom Brady were growing, in part because of the presence of Brady's trainer, Alex Guerrero, and because of disagreements over the trading of backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo.
The Patriots released a statement on the report Friday morning:
In addition, Brady's agent released a statement:
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman discussed the article with Boston Sports Journal's Greg Bedard.
"I thought that the article did a good job of filling in some of the gaps of what's going on, specifically about the Jimmy Garoppolo trade," he said.
The story alleges Belichick never wanted to trade Garoppolo, but was forced to by Kraft.
Bedard said a lot of the article matched up with things he's been hearing.
"If you take a step back and look at the trade, Jacoby Brissett goes all of a sudden, and then Jimmy Garoppolo goes for a second round pick--when you probably could've gotten more if they either traded him in the offseason part of this year, or held onto him and put the franchise tag on him. That never quite made sense, so the way Seth Wichersham laid it out made a lot of sense."
He said much of the speculation after the article will be on the head coach--but he added that it's not the first time he's heard rumors that Belichick might leave, and he doesn't believe them.
"Certainly Brady's not going anyplace, and Kraft's not," Bedard said. "The X factor is Belichick."
Listen to Kaufman's full interview with Bedard: