Fired-Up Patriots Reporter Squares Off With Boston Radio Host About Brandon Aiyuk Report

ESPN's New England Patriots beat reporter Mike Reiss took issue with comments from well-known radio host Mike Felger regarding Reiss' reporting on the Brandon Aiyuk situation. And it prompted Reiss, a well-respected beat reporter, to square off with Felger on Boston radio's most popular program Wednesday afternoon.

"To me, I smell a rat with the reporting on the money," Felger said at the start of 98.5 The Sports Hub's "Felger and Mazz program.

"I smelled a rat, I sniffed it immediately when Mike Reiss had that report late yesterday afternoon. I sniffed it. It's not a commentary on Mike Reiss, whose reporting is impeccable. He's incredibly well-sourced within the Patriots. So I know where it's coming from, and I know how they (Patriots) operate."

The program then played a clip of Reiss' report from Tuesday, which cited the Patriots' aggressive pursuit. Reiss was among those who reported on what the Patriots offered Aiyuk in average annual value, but did not report on the guarantees. Felger threw shade at that insinuating it was a team-friendly report.

Reiss called into the radio show during the next hour of the program.

"So, I haven't been listening to you guys and I'm ready to fight if you want to fight," Reiss said. "But the thing for me, I got people texting me, tweets coming up in the notifications. I think the insinuation that bothers me is that you think, Mike, that this information is coming from the team.

"So you think that the team would tell me that, and that I would go on 'SportsCenter' and report that. And I have to be honest, Mike, I'm actually a little bit insulated by that -- if that's true. I don't know if that's true because I haven't been listening, but..."

Felger jumped in and said he did feel that way.

"And that's OK. You can feel that way. You can feel that way," Reiss said. "But the fact that you think I would go on 'SportsCenter,' on that platform, and say that based on something from the team, that's why I wanted to call in. Mike, you're creating a perception with listeners that that's the way this works. That's incredibly dangerous. ...

"That's not the way this works! That pisses me off because you've been in this position. And you know that that's not fair, and it's not accurate in this case."

You can watch it here, courtesy of 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Reiss and Felger ultimately ended the back-and-forth in a respectful manner with the latter reiterating that he was not trying to take a shot at Reiss and instead trying to take a shot at the Patriots.