Patriots Place the Franchise Tag On Welker

[MoLewisrocks]

Bedard says Welker has been tagged

From his league sources, no team announcement yet.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

Schefter pretty much confirmed it. Said if he wasn't already he will be by 4PM.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

So with this tagging, what are we down to as far as available cap space for FA?


(not that there's much left that hasn't been tagged or re-upped already)

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

Rap said it's official re: twitter...

 

[Henroc]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

@soonerpatriot
Well hopefully enough to get either 1 elite free agent or 2 middle of the pack free agents depending on whose available. I was really hoping that we would have enough money for a deep threat receiver such as vjax or Colston. Can it still happen? sure. But i would have felt more comfortable with more cap space. we can still play around so lets see what these guys do on the 13th. and just go to NFL.com and youll see that its breaking news that they officially tagged Welkah

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

Hard to say since the haven't finalized the cap yet and it was looking like it was going to land below $120M. At $120M with the cuts made to date and the tag and assuming the escalators have been deducted from what we rolled over I think we were around $14M under.

They can and likely will make some more cuts or restructures that save a 4-5 million more. Could do more but that gets into mortgaging the future and is bad business if overdone like the JETS have and the Steelers are being forced to. It's like the faster you go the behinder you get after a while.

A long term deal for Wes alone could probably save them around $3-4M against the cap this season. But they have 16 more UFA to potentially sign or replace so it's not a lot of cap if they want to be players in the early round of FA if that's what your wondering...

 

[Ring 6]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

So with this tagging, what are we down to as far as available cap space for FA?


(not that there's much left that hasn't been tagged or re-upped already)

There is a record number of FAs hitting the market

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

Reiss says Welker and Bill have spoken about their intent to franchise him.

The Patriots have released a statement:

"Wes Welker is a remarkable football player for our team and has been a vital component to our offense and special teams since we traded for him in 2007. Utilizing the franchise designation allows both sides more time to try to reach an agreement, which is the goal. Wes remains a contractual priority and we are hopeful that he will remain a Patriot for years to come."

Talk is cheap, Robert. And two isn't many... Get it done.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

There is a record number of FAs hitting the market

How many of quality?

 

[ensoul]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

Not surprising. We will see if Welker actually signs this though.

 

[PatsFans.com Article]

Patriots Place the Franchise Tag On Welker
By: Ian Logue

The Patriots headed into this offseason with a lot of questions, but it appears they've at least temporarily answered one of them after placing the franchise tag on veteran receiver Wes Welker Monday afternoon....

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS STORY​

 

[PatsFanNM]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

I was surprised to hear that the Pats offer to Welker during the year was $16mil for two years, all guaranteed. Hard to see how that would have been tempting -- I would say they'd have to at least go to, say, $21 mil guaranteed, which is the sum of this year's and next year's franchise tags, approximately.

I would think something like 4 years, $32mil, $22mil guaranteed. That at least gives him an incentive, and probably wouldn't work out too badly the first year, depending on how it's structured.

 

[PatsFan2]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

I guess $9MIll is the going rate for a WR of his caiber at age 31...but definitely not age 32. I am very surprised he turned down 16Mill for 2 years all guranteed. This might be his last year in a Pats uni...i cannot see him getting a three or four year extension after this. We still NEED outside threat via FA.

 

[Ivan]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

I guess $9MIll is the going rate for a WR of his caiber at age 31...but definitely not age 32. I am very surprised he turned down 16Mill for 2 years all guranteed. This might be his last year in a Pats uni...i cannot see him getting a three or four year extension after this. We still NEED outside threat via FA.

Absolutely.

If he turned 32 tomorrow he would be a completely different player. And when he hits 32 and 31/2 months he disappears completely. I don't know what Belichik is thinking paying a WR mof "his caliber" so much money, that's supposed to go to players with great combine and Madden measurables who actually aren't as good.


Trade Welker and go after a TE in the draft to replace Gronkowski, who will be 24 at his next contract, and 24 is the new 39.. Too old, too slow, and his back and ankle surgeries will leave him shorter someday..

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

I was out for a while and of course Mr. The Cap is Crap was killing them for their offer. I swear Felger has to be ADHD though because he was acting as if they offered it to him last week. It was one of their nothing ventured nothing gained think outside the box offers I'm sure where Welker would have been signed for 2 MORE years after last year but gotten a chunk of change up front (maybe $8M for taking the time to walk across the hall and sign the deal) and then $4M guaranteed salaries in 2012 and 2013.

So not as bad as Felger was kneejerk painting it, but it's still way below market in both $$ and years and you can't expect a player to sign a deal that is both. Brady settled for 4, but they were at $18 per which set a new mark with $48.5 guaranteed and $20M in new money up front even though the extension didn't kick in for another season... This is a little like Ty Law all over again only they didn't have to take that approach this time because Welker didn't have a $12M cap hit staring them in the face against an $85M cap...and even then they guaranteed him 4 x $6M when he was a CB who would turn 31 before the next season...

And now we are past early cash bonus extention time so they better get serious. He will play because he's not the kind to hold out on his teamates. He won't sign the tag or show until camp so they can't trade him, but that's OK because we know he handles his own business pretty darn well (conditioning and get togethers with his QB) and he doesn't really need the work. But then they will be looking at an $11M+ tag to keep or trade him come 2012, and probably a pretty pissed off QB. They've done some things to annoy Tommy over the years and he's been a good little soldier and kept his mouth shut and toed the company line. But I wouldn't doubt if this time around he doesn't drop a dime on coach and tell him he's about had it with this schit...

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

If there is one thing that has always annoyed me about the team is the failure to get a player an extension without having to go to the extreme which is the Franchise tag.

I would wish they did away with the tag totally and forced all teams to get the job done the hard way.....without it.

After Welker is done one way or another,I think they better address Gronk quickly and extend him before he gets too close to that FA market in another year or its going to get expensive the longer they wait.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

Steve Johnson got 5yrs / 36.6 million that has to figure in the equation I would think.

I think they should offer Welker the same deal with $18 million guaranteed ... chances are he will only play 3 more years anyways.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

They can't set that precedent with Gronk. Don't even think after this the new CBA will allow them to revisit first round deals before the end of year 3. They don't want those kind of deals fueling the market. Two years in hasn't proved anything to the level one should bank on it. Jonathan said weeks ago when asked that Gronk is only half way through his rookie deal. They will likely start talking to him next December or January when his deal is still not into his contract year with the goal of getting something done by March that adds to that last rookie deal year for amortization purposes and so they know where they stand going forward. Then depending on how that goes they can try and deal with Hernandez sometime in his contract year. Of course if they get rebuffed they may switch it up and target Hernandez first. It really depends on what the players and their agents are willing to do because any early deals will come at some level of discount. Which probably indicates the Pats know they have to up the ante on Welker now since they are no longer a year ahead of the curve. That they've always been able to get it done with Brady has helped keep his cap hits manageable. He only averages $15.7M on what was an $18M AAV extension for just that reason. Was something the Colts could never do with Manning because Condon would rather his players roll the dice than discount anything.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

But then they will be looking at an $11M+ tag to keep or trade him come 2012, and probably a pretty pissed off QB. They've done some things to annoy Tommy over the years and he's been a good little soldier and kept his mouth shut and toed the company line. But I wouldn't doubt if this time around he doesn't drop a dime on coach and tell him he's about had it with this schit...

Gisele will set Tommy straight

 

[RobertWeathers]

Re: Bedard says Welker has been tagged

If there is one thing that has always annoyed me about the team is the failure to get a player an extension without having to go to the extreme which is the Franchise tag.

I would wish they did away with the tag totally and forced all teams to get the job done the hard way.....without it.

After Welker is done one way or another,I think they better address Gronk quickly and extend him before he gets too close to that FA market in another year or its going to get expensive the longer they wait.

The Pats have extended a number of players before their contracts were up. Brady, Warren, Light, Koppen, Vrabel are some examples.

My point is that you can't just blame the teams for not getting contracts done. Players share an equal responsibility to make a deal happen.

Also consider the Pat's situation if they did not have the tag at their disposal. Vinitiari, Mankins, Wilfork and Asante were all tagged at one point or another. Some times extensions can be worked out. Sometimes they can not. Without the tag, they walk.