AUDIO: Trent Dilfer Implied Adam Schefter Was Getting Used By Pats, Schefter Responds

In a spot on WEEI’s Dale and Holley show last week, ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer was strongly critical of ESPN reporter Adam Schefter, who had said that a first round pick and a fourth round pick would be the starting point in trade talks for Jimmy Garoppolo.

“I can promise you nobody’s trading a first and a fourth,” Dilfer said. “The brass in New England is using Adam to get that headline out.”

Schefter went on WEEI’s Kirk and Callahan today, and they played that audio for him to respond to. The audio is above.

“Nobody in New England has ever told me a certain price that they want or are expecting on Jimmy Garoppolo,” Schefter said. “I can promise you that. The New England brass is not using me to get a price out on Jimmy Garoppolo. That’s a fact that we can dispel right there.”

Schefter said that this was not a report, but was an asking price that was his opinion based on his football acumen: “I might be wrong, but I can tell you this, I’m gonna be closer than Trent Dilfer is — and I might be low on the 1 and 4!”

Schefter reiterated that nobody in New England told him what their asking price for their backup quarterback would be. “And nobody has ever said to me, ‘Can you please put this out there so we can drum up the interest?’ It’s amazing that somebody that I work with and respect as much as I do would say something like that.”

Dilfer, when the audio was played back on Dale and Holley this afternoon, apologized for the implication.

“By the way, Adam and I are really good friends, so I almost feel apologetic. When I said that last week, I felt like the Patriots were creating that message to start a bidding war for Jimmy Garoppolo. I did not mean to throw Adam’s name in there by any stretch of the imagination. I just listened to my sound and it sounded like I was accusing Adam of being a pawn for the New England Patriots. By no means was I implying that whatsoever.”