BPF
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- May 13, 2006
- Messages
- 2,469
- Reaction score
- 0
Patriots could suddenly be rich in receivers
http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/10040904
By Adam Schefter
NFL Analyst
Adam Schefter's "Around the League" reports and commentaries can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access.
(March 5, 2007) -- To the relief of quarterback Tom Brady and the rest of Patriot Nation, New England signed one wide receiver and could soon add another.
After trading 2007 second- and seventh-round draft choices to Miami for wide receiver Wes Welker and signing him to a five-year, $18.1 million contract that included $10.75 million in guaranteed money, the Patriots were scheduled to host a visit with Philadelphia free-agent wide receiver Donte' Stallworth.
The Dolphins and the Patriots avoided a feud over Wes Welker.
Around the league, there are questions about Stallworth's character. But Stallworth is willing to take a one-year deal with New England, the team he would love to play for if he doesn't return to Philadelphia, to prove his value to the Patriots and around the league.
Stallworth recently talked about how much the Patriots appealed to him, and now New England is giving him a chance to say the same thing to its coaches and front office.
From New England, Stallworth is scheduled to visit Tennessee, which lost free-agent wide receiver Drew Bennett to the St. Louis Rams, which gave the free-agent a six-year, $30 million deal that included $9.5 million in guaranteed money.
Stallworth still might also return to Philadelphia. But his decision is expected shortly.
As for Welker, the key to completing a trade between the Patriots and Dolphins was the work of their owners, New England's Robert Kraft and Miami's Wayne Huizenga.
Kraft stepped in, not wanting his organization to engage in any type of public battle for Welker's services. The Patriots were poised to sign Welker to a seven-year, $38.5 million contract that contained a "poison pill" that said if the wide receiver played four games in Florida, his contract would become fully guaranteed.
Knowing the feud that developed last year between Minnesota and Seattle over free-agent guard Steve Hutchinson, Kraft helped engineer the trade with Huizenga. The Patriots would have had to give up the second-round pick to sign Welker anyway; the seventh-round pick was added partly as a goodwill gesture, and mostly to avoid any protracted hearing between the two sides.
Now New England has Welker, it could have Stallworth, and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has at least one weapon he needed.
http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/10040904
By Adam Schefter
NFL Analyst
Adam Schefter's "Around the League" reports and commentaries can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access.
(March 5, 2007) -- To the relief of quarterback Tom Brady and the rest of Patriot Nation, New England signed one wide receiver and could soon add another.
After trading 2007 second- and seventh-round draft choices to Miami for wide receiver Wes Welker and signing him to a five-year, $18.1 million contract that included $10.75 million in guaranteed money, the Patriots were scheduled to host a visit with Philadelphia free-agent wide receiver Donte' Stallworth.
The Dolphins and the Patriots avoided a feud over Wes Welker.
Around the league, there are questions about Stallworth's character. But Stallworth is willing to take a one-year deal with New England, the team he would love to play for if he doesn't return to Philadelphia, to prove his value to the Patriots and around the league.
Stallworth recently talked about how much the Patriots appealed to him, and now New England is giving him a chance to say the same thing to its coaches and front office.
From New England, Stallworth is scheduled to visit Tennessee, which lost free-agent wide receiver Drew Bennett to the St. Louis Rams, which gave the free-agent a six-year, $30 million deal that included $9.5 million in guaranteed money.
Stallworth still might also return to Philadelphia. But his decision is expected shortly.
As for Welker, the key to completing a trade between the Patriots and Dolphins was the work of their owners, New England's Robert Kraft and Miami's Wayne Huizenga.
Kraft stepped in, not wanting his organization to engage in any type of public battle for Welker's services. The Patriots were poised to sign Welker to a seven-year, $38.5 million contract that contained a "poison pill" that said if the wide receiver played four games in Florida, his contract would become fully guaranteed.
Knowing the feud that developed last year between Minnesota and Seattle over free-agent guard Steve Hutchinson, Kraft helped engineer the trade with Huizenga. The Patriots would have had to give up the second-round pick to sign Welker anyway; the seventh-round pick was added partly as a goodwill gesture, and mostly to avoid any protracted hearing between the two sides.
Now New England has Welker, it could have Stallworth, and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has at least one weapon he needed.