Seth Wickersham has his ear to the ground when it comes to the New England Patriots.
The ESPN writer took plenty of heat in New England when he wrote a story in January about a growing rift inside the Patriots, reporting on an apparent power struggle among Tom Brady, Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick. However, it’s becoming harder and harder to doubt Wickersham’s reporting given what’s transpired since then.
Wickersham appeared Wednesday morning on WEEI, coincidentally just minutes after ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Brady hasn’t yet committed to playing in 2018. While it’s likely Brady plays, Schefter reported, there are plenty of people close to him who prefer the Patriots quarterback hangs up his cleats.
Of course, it could be some sort of power play from Brady, and if that’s the case, it might be an attempt to get Brady’s trainer, Alex Guerrero, back in the good graces of Belichick and the Patriots. According to reports, Guerrero’s access largely was revoked, which didn’t sit well with his client and business partner.
As Wickersham revealed Wednesday, the issues with Guerrero are complicated, as there are organizational inconsistencies all the way up to Kraft.
“I was told before the Super Bowl,” Wickersham said on WEEI, “that Robert Kraft had told people that ‘Look, we’ve gotta find a way to limit Alex. Yeah, he’s a problem.’ And then he flew out to the Super Bowl on Robert Kraft’s private plane. So again there’s just inconsistencies and I don’t know how it resolves itself and I’m not sure that it will.”
The good news for Patriots fans, though, is Wickersham is in line with Schefter’s feeling Brady still plays in 2018.
“I think at the end of the day, Tom Brady loves playing football too much not to come back, and I think that will be the case and he’ll return playing at his typically high level,” Wickersham said.
