Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

News Flash: The New England Patriots have granted holdout Deion Branch permission to negotiate a contract with another team and work out a trade. They’ve given the wide receiver until next Friday, September 1^st, to get a deal done.

Teddy’s Take: For once, I’m kind of speechless. I thought the situation would have been resolved well before it got to this point. Is this the Pats moving on, or basically calling Branch’s bluff and trying to prove to him he’s not as valuable around the league as he thinks?

Bill Belichick remains in the driver’s seat as far as where the Super Bowl XXXIX MVP plays this year. Even if his agent does work out a lucrative contract elsewhere, New England doesn’t have to trade him unless they get satisfactory compensation. The negative for the Pats in either scenario is they’ll still be without Tom Brady’s favorite target in 2006. A trade more than likely brings back a draft pick not a player, and certainly not a receiver of equal value.

This smells of a “you know what� or get off the pot move by BB. Branch needs to be in camp and soon, or move on so he’s no longer a distraction. I guess next Friday could roll around and we’ll still be in the same situation we’re in today. However, I have a hunch this gets resolved one way or the other by then.

The guessing here; Deion Branch will be playing in Foxboro on September 10th…and I don’t mean for the Buffalo Bills.

Can the Patriots-Branch marriage be saved? Have I read today’s news correctly, or am I way off in my assessment?