Trent Dilfer Clears Air On Adam Schefter, Jimmy Garoppolo Trade Chatter

Trent Dilfer basically apologized Tuesday.

Dilfer, a former NFL quarterback now working for ESPN, recently landed in a mini feud with ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter when he questioned his colleague’s speculation that the New England Patriots’ starting point for a potential trade involving quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo would be a first-round draft pick and a fourth-round pick. He went so far as to suggest the Patriots were using Schefter to set an asking price for Garoppolo, which didn’t sit too well with Schefter.

Schefter explained his logic Tuesday during a WEEI radio appearance while also clarifying that no one in the Patriots organization ever told him a specific starting point and that he simply was speculating based on what he believes about the current market for a potential franchise quarterback. Dilfer, also appearing on WEEI later in the day, followed by clearing the air on his previous comments.

“Well, yeah, and by the way, Adam and I are very, very good friends. I almost feel apologetic,” Dilfer said on WEEI’s “Dale and Holley with Rich Keefe,” per WEEI.com. “When I said that last week, it was that — I felt like the Patriots were creating that message to start a bidding war for Jimmy Garoppolo. I did not mean to throw Adam’s name in there by any stretch of the imagination. I listened to my sound and I sounded like I was accusing Adam of being a pawn for the New England Patriots. By no means was I implying that whatsoever.

“I regretfully take back putting Adam’s name into that. I stand by my comments saying that this is very common in the NFL where teams will get a bidding war going by getting numbers out there. I guess that was what I was trying to say last week. I feel bad that this has become a thing because I respect Adam as much as anybody at ESPN.”

It’s likely this all will blow over, with both men going about their business as if nothing happened. There still is a question as to whether the Patriots ultimately will trade Garoppolo with Tom Brady playing so well at age 39, though. If they do, Dilfer still has a hard time believing the Patriots will receive a first-round pick and a fourth-round pick like Schefter speculated they could.

“I think it’s a first rounder, I just don’t think it is a first and something else,” Dilfer said, per WEEI.com. “I don’t think it is a high first. I could be wrong. I am just going based off the people I talk to. I don’t talk to all 32 teams. I don’t know who else is in the market for him.

“I think he is a really good player. I think he is worth exploring a trade for. I think he has developed really well, but when you’re talking a first and a fourth, which was the conversation last week, to me it just seemed high after talking to people that I have talked to. I am not talking to all the owners and GMs and presidents, you’re just getting a general feel for what the perceived value is for a player on the market.”

Garoppolo, a second-round pick (62nd overall) in 2014, has completed 43 of 63 passes this season for 502 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions over parts of six games (two starts). With so many teams seemingly looking for a quarterback, and the Minnesota Vikings already surrendering a first-round pick and a fourth-round pick for Sam Bradford back in September, Schefter’s speculated price doesn’t seem too far-fetched.

But we’ll let them sort that out.