Leigh Bodden in Limbo as Rumors Spread Regarding New England Patriots Deal

In the modern-day version of the children's game "Telephone" otherwise known as Twitter, what starts in one place can travel quickly and gain ground quickly along the way.

Unlike that game many of us played as children, these days we have copy and paste, so the message is almost never misquoted or otherwise improperly conveyed.

It is, however, sometimes inaccurate at the source—or at the very least premature.

Last night around 7:30 pm, an adult version of that game was started when Mike Lombardi of the NFL Network tweeted that the Patriots and Leigh Bodden had agreed to a deal.

This news spread throughout the media so quickly that Bodden's agent tweeted to quiet it down a bit, stating that nothing was in place yet.

Adam Schefter of ESPN later tweeted that the two parties had an agreement in principle but had not yet signed a contract.

Alvin Keels, Bodden's agent, also denied that later, simply saying that Bodden always wanted to remain in New England and that any announcement was premature at best. He wasn't saying there wasn't anything going on with New England—just that any announcement was premature.

Half of me hopes that this is just the precursor to the signing being announced today. But here we are, just past 3 pm, and nothing has been announced.

It was interesting enough that Bodden left Texas without signing anything (yet Houston still wanted him apparently). Then this news that same night—I figured Houston was the pretty girl Bodden hung out with to make his girlfriend (the Patriots) pay more attention to him. But now with no signing, I don't know what to think.

Honestly, my first gut reaction was to think of companies going on blogs to bash each other's products or customer service or something of that nature.

Like, someone says to someone, "Hey, Bodden is back in NE." The second someone tweets it, as they know it, it's true. It goes on and on, and now everyone's saying Bodden's back. Now are the Patriots under even more pressure to give him the kind of money he wants? That's all I could think initially.

Let me be clear here for one second:

THERE IS NO REPORTING, PROOF, OR ANYTHING OF THAT NATURE THAT WHAT I JUST SAID HAPPENED. THAT WAS JUST WHAT I WAS THINKING. THAT IS NOT FACT, NOT FACT, NOT FACT.

Sorry, just needed to be clear—but anyway, that was the first thing I could think. Now I just don't know what to think. What I do know is that they certainly need to re-sign Bodden, and if they don't the Patriots might be in a heap of trouble on defense next season.

I'd love to hear your thoughts regarding the whole situation.