There has been much talk of veteran kicker Jay Feely's interview in which he lambasted Carolina Panthers' owner Jerry Richardson for being 'disrespectful' and speaking to Drew Brees and Peyton Manning in a 'condescending manner'. This is a curious charge from someone who wasn't even in the negotiating room, rather Feely was parroting what an 'unnamed source' told Yahoo.com writer Jason Cole.
It's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that JR came off abrasive, in fact, I almost guarantee he was abrasive but let's face it- he came off as angry and crotchety in his press conference in Charlotte following the 2010 season.
Per Bill Voth via Twitter:
Panthers official says of Richardson situation "the characterization is inaccurate". JR won't comment b/c meetings supposed to be private.
More after the jump...
Mike Florio said that "It would help if Richardson went on the record and share (his) version of the events" yeah... good luck with that. This statement via a team official is about the best anyone is going to get from Richardson, and he could care less about making himself appear more affable to John Q Public. By saying (via official) that the meetings 'supposed to be private' Jerry is leveling his crosshairs on whoever is leaking this information to the media, agents, players etc.
If people in that room want to treat the negotiations like high school, want to pass notes and gossip about the negotiators bed side manner, then this isn't going to get better anytime soon. Personally, I think it goes to show just how much power JR has in these dealings, and just what a tough nut he is to crack. I wouldn't be surprised if this is all just a play to try and get Jerry kicked out of the room, because while he's there the owners wont budge an inch.