During an appearance on WEEI's "Dale & Holly" program, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft disputed an ESPN report that a contract with unsigned Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins fell apart after a request for Mankins to publicly apologize to the team for negative statements he made earlier this summer.

Via Christopher Price of WEEI.com:

"I want to correct this. There’s a a misconception that we have had a deal with Logan Mankins. We have never had a deal with Logan Mankins. And I hate violating a private conversation, but I think it’s worthy, because it speaks to this issue," Kraft said.

"I got a call three weeks ago maybe, something around that time, from Logan, and he apologized to me for the comments that he made in the public media. He said he regretted he did it. He knew in retrospect that they were not true. I accepted his apology, because he’s a very high-quality guy. I also said to him, 'You know, Logan, it would be nice if that was made public, because I’m hoping we do a deal with you. And I don’t want people to think that the way you do a deal is to say something that’s not true or involve ownership.'".

According to Kraft, Mankins would correct the public record when he signed a contract or was traded to a new team.

Kraft also called Adam Schefter's report "a bold-faced fib".

While Kraft is concerned about misreports from the media affecting how the fanbase feels about its team, it's worth noting that Kraft himself is misinterpreting the ESPN report.

Schefter never said a deal was done, just that both sides felt as though they were getting closer to a deal before Kraft's apology request was made. That the Mankins contract situation has no end in sight should be a clear sign to the fanbase, which is perfectly capable of reading through the lines, that Schefter's report is much more accurate than Kraft would prefer it to be.