In March 2016, the New England Patriots arranged a deal with the Chicago Bears for tight end Martellus Bennett in exchange for draft picks. That deal couldn't have materialized without the convincing power of Tom Brady. In an interview on Wednesday's episode of Bleacher Report's "Untold Stories" with Master Tesfatsion, Bennett revealed the back story before he eventually agreed to join the Patriots, per a story by Nick Goss of NBC Sports. Bennett said he was with his family in Disneyland celebrating his daughter's birthday thousands of miles from Foxborough when the Patriots and Bears agreed to a trade deal.
However, Bennett had to take and pass a physical for the trade to go down.
Bennett received a call from Belichick
Bennett said he received a call from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick informing him that he was traded and needed to undergo a physical for the trade to be finalized. Bennett said he told Belichick that he's in Disneyland and cannot go to Foxborough immediately for his physical and asked that he undergo testing two days later. Belichick then called him back, stressing that he takes his physical immediately or the trade won't push through. Bennett said he also received a call from his agent urging him to travel to Foxborough immediately, but the tight end insisted on staying at Disneyland.
Bennett had a change of heart
However, Bennett said he had a change of heart when he received a call from Brady himself. Bennett recalled Brady telling him, "Man, I'm so excited about getting you out here." Bennett said he informed Brady about his current situation and asked him if he's really needed to go to Foxborough for the physical.
When Brady replied, "You kind of have to go do that right now", Bennett said, "all right." Bennett's decision paid dividends as he won his first and only Super Bowl ring at Super Bowl LI and helped Brady and the Patriots won the fifth of their six Lombardi trophies. In Super Bowl LI, Bennett helped the Patriots complete a comeback from a 25-point deficit en route to an overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons.
In that game, Bennett finished with two catches for 62 yards and drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone that helped pave the way for James White's game-winning touchdown run in overtime. Brady played 20 seasons for the Patriots before signing a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the offseason.
Godwin misses practice
Ahead of their crucial Week 14 clash with the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium, the Buccaneers practiced without their No. 2 receiver Chris Godwin. The wide receiver missed his second practice of the week after undergoing a procedure to remove ten pins from his surgically repaired finger. Top receiver Mike Evans, for his part, was limited due to a hamstring issue. Jason Pierre-Paul and Donovan Smith were also limited due to knee and ankle issues, respectively, while Lavonte David missed practice but not due to any injury.
