One of the bigger talking points around the NFL recently has been where San Francisco 49ers star Brandon Aiyuk will end up being traded to. And this topic has led to a heated interview between New England Patriots beat reporter Mike Reiss and Mike Felger and Tony Massarotti of the Felger and Mazz Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston.
Early on, the Patriots emerged as candidates to potentially trade for Aiyuk. But the Patriots ultimately ended up pulling out of the sweepstakes, which was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
Sources: After inquiring about Brandon Aiyuk’s availability, the Patriots have decided not to explore any further trade possibilities with the 49ers regarding their standout wide receiver. Patriots are excited about their young receivers and want to focus on them. pic.twitter.com/RglYQJBmAx
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 7, 2024
Prior to this report from Schefter, Mike Reiss appeared on SportsCenter to offer some insight into how much the Patriots would have been willing to pay Aiyuk in a new contract that would have shortly followed the trade if it had happened.
“Amina, I’m gonna give you one word. Aggressively,” said Reiss when asked by ESPN’s Amina Smith about the Patriots approach to bringing in Aiyuk. “A source told me that the Patriots are willing to make Aiyuk one of the top highest-paid receivers in the NFL in average-per-year. Putting him right alongside Tyreek Hill of the Dolphins, A.J. Brown of the Eagles.
“And this all goes back to something that Eliot Wolf, the new Vice-President of player personnel said in the offseason. He said ‘We want to weaponize the offense.’ Remember, they went hard after free agent receiver Calvin Ridley. They were willing to spend big for him. But Ridley ended up in Tennessee. Now, they are willing to spend big to try to entice on Aiyuk to want to come to New England.”
Reporting for @SportsCenter: Joining @aminajadeTV to share how the Patriots are approaching their pursuit of WR Brandon Aiyuk. pic.twitter.com/WFOm87PXyj
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 6, 2024
Mike Felger and Tony Massarotti discussed Reiss’ reporting of the Aiyuk situation on their show on Wednesday, sounding off on Reiss by questioning where his source came from.
“To me, I smell a rat with the reporting on the money,” said Felger. “I smelled a rat, I sniffed it immediately when Mike Reiss had that report late yesterday afternoon. I sniffed it. It’s not a commentary on Mike Reiss, whose reporting is impeccable. He’s incredibly well-sourced within the Patriots. So I know where it’s coming from, and I know how they (Patriots) operate.”
Felger was seemingly suggesting that the report from Reiss came from a source that wanted to paint the Patriots organization in a better light, perhaps even straight from the organization itself.
Later on in Wednesday’s show, Reiss called into the show to discuss Felger’s comments from earlier in the day about his reporting, which resulted in a rather uncomfortably back-and-forth between Reiss and Felger that lasted over 17 minutes.
“I haven’t been listening to you guys (today) and I’m ready to fight if you want to fight,” Reiss said to Felger. “But listen, the thing for me … the insinuation that bothers me is that you think, Mike, that this information is coming from the team. So, you think that the team would tell me that and that I would go on SportsCenter and report that? I have to be honest, Mike, I’m actually a little bit insulted by that, if that’s true.”
“It’s definitely how I feel,” said Felger. “It’s okay to have team sources.”
“You can feel that way,” responded Reiss. “But the fact that you think I would go on SportsCenter, on that platform, and say that based on something from the team. That’s why I wanted to call in. Mike, you are creating a perception with listeners that this is the way this works. That’s incredibly dangerous for all the people involved in this.”
Watch as @MikeReiss puts @mikefelger and @TonyMassarotti in a body bag @985TheSportsHub @FelgerAndMazz @mikefelger @TonyMassarotti @bigjimmurray @MaggioreKevin @ry_beaton @kfabrizio985 pic.twitter.com/1Gh3kfpuqO
— James Stewart ☝️ (@IAmJamesStewart) August 7, 2024
The two continued on and argued through much of their conversation, with Reiss insisting that this source was a legitimate one separate from the team. While Felger insisted that there are times where reporters like Reiss do simply report based on team sources.
A number of media members took notice of his contentious interaction between Felger and Reiss. Some believed that Reiss has a proven track record as a reporter and has a right to be upset about this accusation from Felger.
This is a great discussion. Reiss has a right to be pissed, because he has a long track record of having the highest standards for his own reporting. But Felger isn’t wrong, either, when it comes to certain obvious reporter/source affiliations. And he’s honest about what he did. https://t.co/TUJBGoNcnc
— Chad Finn (@GlobeChadFinn) August 7, 2024
Mike Reiss aggressively defending himself against F&M and rightly so. He’s a top notch reporter, arguably the best we have in Boston and he deserves better than to be even remotely thought of as a mouthpiece for the Patriots https://t.co/8pqqUfEfRy
— Jason Wolfe (@jasonlwolfe) August 7, 2024
Mike Reiss is the best in the business, hands down. This is a MUST watch. pic.twitter.com/8N6A4yP0oO
— Patriot RedZone (@PatriotRedZone) August 7, 2024
Meanwhile, others believe that Felger was well within his rights to question Reiss.
Few things:
1. Money always comes back to ownership. Felger is correct about that. Especially with the Patriots ownership. Can count the number of media types who have called them out in this on one hand (yes, including me).
2. Lazy-ass assumption to make and then say @MikeReiss… https://t.co/BhnHbQlddW— Bill Speros (@billsperos) August 7, 2024
