(SP) – Every night for the last two weeks, just after midnight, Cleveland Browns general manager Sashi Brown hears his phone buzz with a text notification. He then takes his phone away from where his wife might see him and opens up the text.
“The temptation is real,” Brown says of the late-night text messages he keeps getting from Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio and head coach Bill Belichick. “I’ve got quarterbacks on the roster, but it’s hard not to want to get with Jimmy Garoppolo.”
The Patriots backup has rumored to be available via trade since the Super Bowl ended, while other reports out of New England claim the Patriots are not willing to deal him. If they are open to a deal, the Browns would be a possible partner and a team able to give the Patriots the draft picks they desire.
“They’re definitely playing hard to get,” said the Browns GM. “And you know how that is: you only end up wanting them more. I’ll be laying there at night thinking we’re fine without him, and then I get a text and it’s a video of Garoppolo wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and throwing a 30-yard out. Your heart starts pumping and you seriously consider throwing it all away, the whole draft, for just one game with him.”
In addition to building up demand for Garoppolo, the Patriots say they also have other reasons for texting Brown.
“Every time he’s on iMessage with us he’s vulnerable to getting hacked,” said Belichick. “And when I say ‘vulnerable,’ I mean we are actively hacking his phone and stealing scouting information and their playbook.”
Also see … NFL teams clamoring for Tom Brady’s backup because they still have no better ideas
* Help support SP *
