Re: Gasper analysis
The Pats can certainly be accused of moving a little slow in ripping up rookie deals and locking younger players into their prime production years but what Gasper failed to do was articulate the challenge the Pats have at the end of the 2012 season. With the cap staying (assumption) flat, they need to figure out a way to pay/extend....
Chung, Arrington, AH, Vollmer, Love maybe Hoyer and possibly work out extensions for Nink, Mesko and maybe Spikes.
My assumption is that if all those players have the kind of years we hope they have, they will not be cheap and if they stay here the Pats will need to pay.
New England Patriots Player Contracts, Salaries, & Transactions
You bring up a good point, but I also think that a deal with Welker could have been afforded without as much of an issue as some are saying.
Chung shouldn't be too bad, may likely even see the tag if a deal cannot be done. I'm not even close to being worried about him.
Arrington will likely move on, as the market will be too steep for the Pats to try and keep him. I don't see him staying here to be honest. He can probably get 7+ on average per, barring a pretty lousy year. With the younger CB's + another draft in April, I really don't see the Pats paying him what he'll want.
Hernandez has 2 full years left on his rookie deal, so while an extension would be nice at the end of the season, it is not priority #1 either. He fits into the "possible extension" crowd which includes Ninkovich, Mesko, and Spikes; however none of them are needed at the end of the year.
Vollmer will have an important contract year this season. His worth will go up or down, depending upon his ability to stay healthy and produce.
Love shouldn't be too difficult (at all), and
Hoyer is still an unknown.
While your point remains valid, that leaves the following for 'need' at the end of the season:
Chung, Vollmer, Love, and possibly Hoyer--sans Arrington. Pretty standard year in my opinion, maybe even better than most. Extensions to some of the other players may be examined, but aren't totally necessary at this juncture. With the ability to carry over a nice chunk of money + the probability of restructuring/extending Brady, the NEP should be in a pretty nice position salary cap wise. I am sure that they have their eyes on the next 2 seasons and their priorities, but they could have come to an agreement with Welker had they chose to. They certainly could've afforded it in my opinion.
The possibility lies that they may explore franchising Welker again (although most of us think that is unlikely), thus giving him what he wanted anyway over the 2 yr span. They may have approached it more carefully though, taking it one year at a time, and hoping that his worth would decrease with another year of age and a somewhat lessened statistical season. For all we know, they may have some intentions of keeping him through this season and next anyway, just on their own terms and in a more careful structure. The 3rd year option would point to that scenario not making sense on all levels, but they may have seen it as reason enough to gamble.
