robertweathers

I'm not sure about that. If there is one thing that is clear, Seymour treated his time with the Patriots as a business. Whether it be sitting out portions of camp, contract negotiations- he wanted to get paid. With that said, there is nothing wrong with that. Not everyone can out like Troy, Bru of Faulk. If Sey finished his career here it would have been on his terms- not the Pats.


Those people were on drugs


There is no question that if this team had Seymour circa 2003 they would be a better defense. If they had 2012 Seymour I don't think they would be appreciably better so and for that reason-along with his financial demands, other younger, cornerstone players who were in line for big deals is why he is not here.

__________________
“I'm not really concerned about the other 31 teams,” - Bill Belichick

"If a player has talent and doesn't succeed, that means that they either don't want to be successful or I have failed as a coach." - Bill Belichick

goheels22002

Correct. The reason the Patriots have the most wins and five Super Bowl appearances since 2001, is that they do not keep players around after their prime and/or the market for their services exceeds what they budget for any specific position. The Patriots have consistently been the deepest team in the AFC for a decade such that injuries to key players did not bring the whole team down as it does with so many other teams like the ones dressed in green uniforms to the south of these parts.

The Eagles and the Jets have both gone down the path of big ticket free agents and keeping veterans at salary-cap busting salaries. When the big-salary guys get injured or just can't perform, their seasons go down the drain.

Seymour, and a number of other great Patriots, reached that point where the market would pay them more money and years than it was worth and they left. With a limited lifespan in the NFL, we can't begrudge them for getting what they could before it was over by their early to mid 30s.

Welker is precisely at that point in his career. How much, and for how long, do the Patriots invest in a slot receiver? If they can get three good players for the money they'd invest in one great player on the downside of his career, what should they do? Wes understands this.

The Oakland fans should be glad they got what they did, but they had to know he came with back and knee issues, so the four years was a big risk.

robertweathers

This statement is off. Sey was not the same player at 30 as he was at 24. Slot receiver or no slot receiver, Welker is playing the best football of his career and is a vital cog in this offense. If the Pats didn't think so, they would not have franchised him at $9.4m.

Now, paying him top 5 WR money at 32 years old is a different subject.

__________________
“I'm not really concerned about the other 31 teams,” - Bill Belichick

"If a player has talent and doesn't succeed, that means that they either don't want to be successful or I have failed as a coach." - Bill Belichick