Bill Belichick Responds To Demaryius Thomas’ Criticism

Demaryius Thomas didn’t like the way New England got rid of him, and he decided to speak his mind about the release. The New England Patriots traded him to the New York Jets after he was released and re-signed by the team. In an interview with the New York Daily News, Thomas said he felt disrespected.

“It was insulting, for sure,” Thomas told Manish Mehta on Wednesday about the moves he was involved in  prior to his contract with the Jets. “Once I got cut (on Aug. 31), I could have just come here (to the Jets) and not stayed there and re-sign. When they re-signed me, I was thinking that I was good. Two weeks later, I was gone. So, it’s like, ‘Why did I waste my time?’ Because at the end of the day, it was kind of a waste of time for me.

“It was disrespectful to me. Like, you know, you could trust me and I could trust you. You told me when you cut me at the (final) cut, sit around you’ll bring me back. And I stayed. I could have easily become a Jet once I got cut. … I could have been here the next day after I got released. But I chose to stay.”

Thomas wasn’t angry about the business side of the deal, but he was definitely disappointed with Bill Belichick’s attitude.

“Coach (Belichick) came up to me and was like, ‘Uh, we got too many guys. We can’t get the ball around enough and we’re going to trade you to the Jets,’” Thomas said. “And that was that. … Ain’t no reason to yell. They’ve won championships without me. I was only trying to be a part of something that was going to be good when I was there. … They’re doing a hell of a job.”

Well, the head coach responded to these comments in a news conference. According to him, he was honest with Thomas.

“Look, Demaryius is a great kid. I have a ton of respect for him, very professional and did everything we asked him to do,” Belichick said Thursday, via NESN. “Our circumstances changed a couple times in that period leading up to when he was traded. I felt like I was truthful with him but things changed and therefore what I said was not the same as what it was — what I’d said previously. It is what it is.”