Bedard: Of Brown, Fournette, Harris and leverage with NFL teams, including the Patriots

Scene 1 ...

Free-agent Trent Brown spends the weekend in Seattle before agreeing Monday to return to the Patriots on a two-year deal that includes just $4 million guaranteed (he was guaranteed $6.5 million for 2021).

Scene 2 ... 

Free-agent Leonard Fournette visits the Patriots on Monday. On Tuesday, Fournette agreed to return to the Bucs on a three-year deal with $11 million guaranteed.

Ah yes, the age-old NFL game of leverage. 

Reminds me of one of my first big learning experiences — that still go on to this day — doing this job.

It was the 2010 offseason and the Green Bay Packers were dragging their feet with veteran left tackle Chad Clifton. If there was a poster child for players that wished to be lifetime Packers, it was Clifton. He was drafted in the second round of the 2000 draft out of Tennessee and he started 10 games as a rookie. When he suffered a horrific back injury because of a cheapshot by Warren Sapp, not only did his coach (Mike Sherman) go after Sapp, but the team was patient with Clifton's recovery. Clifton was a small-town, humble player — perfect for Green Bay. He wasn't really going anywhere.  

But the NFL ain't show-friends, it's show-business, and no one outside of Bill Belichick took a harder line on impersonal economics and transitions than late Packers GM Ted Thompson. Not even a loyal player just looking for a fair deal like Clifton was immune.

Clifton's agent, Jimmy Sexton, was/is one of the shrewdest in the business. He knew he had to create at least the illusion of leverage for his client in order to get Thompson to budge off his bottom-line position of $5 million annually. 

Sexton was the agent for left tackle Chris Samuels, who had just retired from Washington. Clifton wasn't an ideal fit for coach Mike Shanahan's system, but he was an option, so he got Washington to bring Clifton in for a visit. This provides leverage twice ... "Don't make me get on this plane!" ... The Packers didn't budge, so Clifton got on the plane.

The second phase of leverage is, "Teams don't let the player leave the facility once they get in."

I was right in the middle of this. I was reporting a lot of details on what was going on — I knew Sexton well from our shared Nick Saban-Dolphins experiences — and Sexton knew exactly what he was doing. He used the well-read local guy (me) that the Packers and Thompson read every day, to generate pressure on the team.

What I didn't know at the time was that Clifton flew to Washington, but — get this — HE NEVER LEFT THE HOTEL. Sexton literally got Clifton just to take a plane ride and he stayed a night in a hotel (if he even did that).

Of course, Sexton went radio silent on me in the final stages and suddenly Adam Schefter was reporting that Clifton was going back to the Packers — at three years and $20 million, with $7.5 million in guaranteed money.

A win for Sexton and Clifton, and a lesson learned (sort of ... what else was I going to do?) for a young reporter.

Now let's look at the situations involving Brown and Fournette, and how the leverage game will likely apply to Damien Harris.

First, you need to look at who the agents are.

Trent Brown ... Drew Rosenhaus, who has a very close relationship with Belichick — one that some feel has been, at times, to the detriment of his clients

Leonard Fournette ... Roc Nation's (Jayz) Kim Miale, a Providence College/Suffolk alum, Rhode Island native and longtime Patriots fan.

Damien Harris ... Jimmy Sexton.

Rosenhaus and Belichick shoot each other straight, so Belichick likely told him to go out and get some sort of offer — the Patriots weren't thrilled with Brown last year and were not going to go to the same level ($6.5 million guaranteed, upwards of $9 million if Brown played a full season). That Brown's flirtation with the Seahawks was so drawn out — he was seemingly out there the whole weekend (who knows if he even left the hotel) — seems like a straight-up leverage play, perhaps with an assist from the Seahawks (for future considerations when it comes to inking another client).

Similar to Brown and Clifton, Miale needed some leverage out of the Bucs to keep Fournette where he wanted to be. Smartly, Miale got a team that would burn the Bucs and Tom Brady — the Patriots — to have Fournette on a visit (who does visits in this day and age, anyway?) For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction ... the Bucs quickly coughed up the dough to keep Fournette.

Now, did the Patriots have real interest in Fournette? Maybe, maybe not. At the very least, you could see Belichick looking at his contractual depth chart while talking to Miale and seeing that Harris is a free agent after this season. At the very least, the Patriots could make Harris — who they love and view as an up-and-coming leader — see his own Patriots mortality, even if just for a day.

"Why are they bringing in Fournette when they have me and Rhamondre Stevenson?"

I'm sure Harris was asking that question of himself and, perhaps, Rosenhaus.

If you think this was about backup for James White ... have you seen Fournette's legs?! Two different style of backs.

Stevenson, after a strong second half of his rookie season, looks like a burgeoning star (Stevenson was the best back, by far, in our Net Ratings ... and Harris was no slouch). He's going to be the guy in the not-so-distant future, perhaps to start the season, if he's doing things right in his first professional offseason (that's never a given for anybody).

I'm sure the Patriots would love to have Harris as well for a while, but they are not going to break the bank at the position with Stevenson a ready and cheap 1B, and the draft plentiful with backs ... draft, develop and release (that's what the Patriots used to do).

After the Fournette visit, do not be surprised if the Patriots approach Harris very soon about a contract extension that will be on their terms. After seeing a glimpse of the other side, Harris might indeed jump at it. If he doesn't take it, another veteran (or draft) back could be added and Harris might find himself on the trade block.

Miale got what she wanted for Fournettee by visiting the Patriots. New England might very well get what they want out of Harris from the same visit.

All part of the age-old NFL leverage game.