Shank's Latest Hatchet Job / Smear

A few hours ago, the New England Patriots traded Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals for Jonathan Cooper and a second-round pick from Arizona. Fellow Shank Boston Globe colleague Ben Volin reasons that the trade was done in order to avoid losing Jones in free agency next year, avoided paying him a monster contract when he hit free agency and at least got something for him by trading him now. In other words, it's a typical logical trade by Bill Belichick and the Patriots (Richard Seymour, etc.). Other local news outlets and sports oriented web sites have reported on and / or weighed in on the trade.

So how does Shank react to the trade?

Chandler Jones traded. Pats Media Cartel mobilizes. Clever Pats knew all along something wrong with Jones. Another steal of a deal.

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) March 15, 2016

A few facts first - to the best of my knowledge and based on the stories linked above, there is no known current physical problem with Chandler Jones. This will be confirmed once both players involved in this trade undergo their physicals, the passing of which by both players is required to make the trade official.

So, what do we make of Shank's statement "Pats knew all along something wrong with Jones."? 1) We know Shank has no Patriots insider feeding him such a juicy tidbit, so that avenue's closed. 2) It's possible that Shank is referring to Jones' injury history, but that's speculation. 3) It's also speculation to wonder if Shank is referring to this incident when making that statement. 4) Shank is otherwise in possession of information that isn't known to a number of other sports reporters (UPDATE - or is it? ed.), or 5) Shank's pulling something out of his ass. I don't believe there are any other scenarios to consider here, right?

While it's difficult to assign percentages or probabilities on the outcomes, I will first offer my own speculation - Shank made that part of his statement / tweet to do what he does best - paint the New England Patriots in the worst light possible by asserting the most nefarious of motives (i.e., trading a player where there is 'something wrong' with said player). If Chandler fails his physical, Shank comes off looking like a genius. This is why I consider this outcome as the least likely one.

More likely in my opinion is this scenario / outcome - both players pass their physicals and Shank does one of the following things - he points to 2) or 3) above as his reason for making that part of his statement, or ignores any demands for a clarification or retraction, thus pointing to 5) as the most likely basis for that part of his tweet. It seems to me that 4) is off the table, as I have doubts as to the veracity of Shank claiming he got this info from outside the Patriots organization and somehow Ben Volin (and / or other reporters) missed it. I am certain there will be no direct Shank apology / retraction to the Patriots organization if he is proven wrong on this assertion of his.

And that is how you smear a professional sports team, folks.

UPDATE AT 7:12 PM - Surely he's not referring to Shank's tweet...

Not sure I've ever read a negative word about Chandler Jones as a football player until about 90 minutes ago.

— Kirk Minihane (@kirkmin) March 15, 2016

This will be interesting to see how it all sorts itself out, since the timelines between the tweets don't line up to point to Shank - Kirk seems to know something as well. Maybe it's injury related, or otherwise. Scenario 4), slightly modified, now in play...