Wes Welker signs with Denver Broncos

Brady&Springsteen FTW said:

What the hell guys? Why is everyone blaming it on Belichick? I'll bet Welker didn't want to be here and wanted to stick it to the Pats. Maybe that happened, maybe it didn't. Please stop bashing Bill.

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Sorry, but wrong!

Welker came back to ask Patriots to MATCH, not more $$.

Patriots (BillB) said no.

...and for those that think that his production is easily replaceable, fine, we'll see. But I will point this out. Welker missed a grand total of 4 regular season games in this NE career...FOUR.... Amendola, so some claim will be his replacement has missed almost all of the 2011 season, 6 games last year and another 2 in 2009. AHern missed 11 games in three seasons, Gronk 6 games last year.

Replacing production is one thing (which I am not sold they will be able to do). Replacing his reliability and durability is quite another.

JackBauer said:

So saying that:

1.) We won't win another SB with BB

2.) The dynasty died in 2007 (doesn't even make sense when you think about it)

3.) It's time to move on

...isn't worthy of reproach?

OK.

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Seriously. Anyone who calls Belichick an ******* and demands that he be fired simply because his favorite player walked deserves to be called out for being a bandwagon idiot.

149 first downs in the last two years. Not worth 12 million? Seriously?

This is how this team wins -- moving the chains and limiting turnovers. It seems like virtually every scoring drive the Patriots have had a 3d down in there where they picked up just enough to move the chains.

I don't know how you replace 75 first downs a year on this team, the way it's built. I still have some dream we hear that the contract is different from what we thought. There may be some teams where Welker wouldn't be worth 2/12. For the New England Patriots, he clear is. The money they are going to spend to replace that kind of production will be nothing close to 12 million. This is shocking. I can't believe it.

This would seem to be the Josh McDaniels influence on the offense, he was clearly not a Welker fan. Amendola is still out there and has to be considered a possible replacement. His instincts on Lloyd were questionable at best since it was obvious that he and Brady were only occasionally on the same wavelength, with Wes we knew the connection was there. I'm really sad to see him and really disappointed in the Pats front office.

Uhh.... reading comprehension, folks. Curran didn't say what you all think he said.

Tom E. Curran ‏@tomecurran
The enraged party in my previous tweet was someone close to Brady. Not Brady himself. Got no idea how he feels. But I bet I could guess.

MTM558 said:

I'll be able to accept this more easily if the Patriots now go out and sign some good Defensive Players and big and physical Outside Receivers.

If the Patriots give Tom Brady a 2006 receiving corp again with the defense as is, it's a wasted year. Brady has to be feeling betrayed.

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Signing other players is now irrelevant though because Welker signed for so cheap. In other words, his contract didn't preclude the Patriots from bringing in other players.

MTM558 said:

If the Patriots give Tom Brady a 2006 receiving corp again with the defense as is, it's a wasted year. Brady has to be feeling betrayed.

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If the D stayed as is, it wouldn't have mattered who they had on offense. They are not winning anything with this D. They need serious help there and obviously felt that WWW was expendable. Probably just looking at the tight ends and potential from Edleman. Plus our improved running game.

Diddnt people post here that Edleman was outperforming Wes in training camp? I could have sworn I read that here.

Look, The whole 10 for 2 plus incentives VS 12 for 2 does sound like Wes wanted to send a message. But, bottom line is its over. It sucks but we have seen superstars depart here before.

Lets get back to 2001-2005 Patriots football.

stevedogc said:

Who gives a crap what he did before the Pats? All I care about is what he did with the Pats. And with the Pats he was the most productive WR in football. You cant argue that. And you cant argue the fact the Pats just took a huge step back.

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Do you even read the comments that are being replied to? I wasn't responding to you; I was responding to someone who *was* very concerned with what he did prior to joining the Pats. The fact that you, personally don't care about that could not matter less to me.

JackBauer said:

So saying that:

1.) We won't win another SB with BB

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Haven't won since 2004....

JackBauer said:

2.) The dynasty died in 2007 (doesn't even make sense when you think about it)

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Chance to add to the SB chain blown

JackBauer said:

3.) It's time to move on

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Have you freakin' seen this move?

JackBauer said:

...isn't worthy of reproach?

OK.

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Not even close. For the first two, you're haggling over the definition of a "dynasty" when the team hasn't won a SB in almost 10 years.

For the third, the Patriots allowing Welker to get away is an embarrassment. If anything was worthy of reproach, and it was, it's the responses of you and BradyFTW!. They were beneath both of you.

Re: Re: Wes Welker signs with Denver Broncos

BradyFTW! said:

Go root for another team, then. You're clearly not a Pats fan.

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Wow.

Because one cannot possibly be a fan of a team without unconditional support for the H.C?

Weak, Weak, Weak.

As a Belichick homer there are only a couple scenarios that make sense to me.

1) There was a lot more money hidden in the ambiguous "incentives" part of the contract.

1a) Welker was insulted by the mechanics of using incentives.

2) Welker's attitude (justified or not) was at the point it was of serious and justifiable concern to Belichick.


I am a huge proponent in the: fans only make decisions on the visible tip of the iceberg, Belichick/the Patriots make decisions on the whole damn thing (that and the man has forgotten more about football than we will ever hope to attain).

But even I am stretching my credulity to the point of breaking.

If none of the above 3 add up to anything serious and tangible, Im going to be more pissed/disappointed in Belichick than I ever was at Spygate (overblown).

The part about this that really is difficult to take is that even if the Patriots didn't view him as worth that extra $2 million, that seems like a small price to pay to keep a rival from getting so significantly better. Nobody is going to be able to get Manning off the field this year on 3 downs.

BradyFTW! said:

67 receptions for 687 yards and 1 touchdown is "damn good numbers"? I like Welker as much as most, but calling his pre-Patriots production damn good is a stretch, to say the least.

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You forgot the most important part of the statement. But that is typical of people like yourself. You cherry-pick to make yourself look intelligent instead of using the entire SENTENCE.

I said

Welker was putting up damn good numbers despite crappy QBs in Miami.

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See the part in bold. That is the part you IGNORED and it makes all the difference in the world. Had you actually LOOKED to see who his QBs were in Miami in 2006 instead of making your stupid comment, you'd have seen they were Harrington, Culpepper and Lemon. NONE of whom could be remotely considered in Brady's league. So, yeah. Those were damn good numbers.

Once again I'm not bummed that he left I had a gut feeling he was gonna be gone after the 2012 Season it's that he went to ******* Denver that bums me out greatly

I don't think not resigning Wes was about money its more a philosophical change.The Patriots gave us that clue early last season .If the Te's did not get injured i think we would have clearly seen this change.

Love bill and am a firm believer that he knows more then I do and is right more often then I am. I was prepared for Welker to leave and the initial reports of 4 for 45 had me shaking my head but saying ok that is too much money I can live with it. 2 for 12!?!?!?!?!? For a guy who out produces everyone but the super elite? WTF bill? F in mike Wallace got 60 mil and he is half the receiver Wes is. If that was us that signed him to that deal I would be dancing a jig. Instead I am physically sick to my stomach and need to get away from football for a bit. Normally I agree with the front office even when they are being cheap cuz it's smart. Today Welker was 100% right to feel disrespected.

to summarize

we offered 2yr/10mil + incentives

broncos offered 2yr/12mil

incentives in the NFL mean at least 1mil

so in essence we lost Wes b/c we were not willing to give him 1mil more over two years (more or less)

that is not a Plan in any way, that is only one thing, a MISTAKE

any way you dice it, the FO screwed this one up, and did so badly

any other FA WR who has the ability to match Welker's numbers (if any) will cost AT LEAST 10/yr


50% of the ppl on this board would have done a better job w/ Wes today if they were in charge of the FO

PatsFaninAZ said:

149 first downs in the last two years. Not worth 12 million? Seriously?

This is how this team wins -- moving the chains and limiting turnovers. It seems like virtually every scoring drive the Patriots have had a 3d down in there where they picked up just enough to move the chains.

I don't know how you replace 75 first downs a year on this team, the way it's built. I still have some dream we hear that the contract is different from what we thought. There may be some teams where Welker wouldn't be worth 2/12. For the New England Patriots, he clear is. The money they are going to spend to replace that kind of production will be nothing close to 12 million. This is shocking. I can't believe it.

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THE SKY IS FALLING BILL IS CLUELESS SLOT RECEIVER OR BUST 2013.

They'll change the offense
They'll score 400-500 points
They'll have a better defense

It sucks they didn't match but I HATE how people act like this offense can't survive without Welker. What a disservice to Tom Brady to think they can't win because a slot receiver left.

Deus Irae said:

Haven't won since 2004....



Chance to add to the SB chain blown



Have you freakin' seen this move?



Not even close. For the first two, you're haggling over the definition of a "dynasty" when the team hasn't won a SB in almost 10 years.

For the third, the Patriots allowing Welker to get away is an embarrassment. If anything was worthy of reproach, and it was, it's the responses of you and BradyFTW!. They were beneath both of you.

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In the same post the guy is

1) claiming that the dynasty ended in 2007
2) freaking out because the Patriots didn't re-sign a guy who signed in 2007

Apparently the ride's over because we let a guy walk who was never even part of the dynasty in the first place. It makes no sense, top to bottom, and given the tone of the original post, no tone is too harsh as a response. I responded harshly, and it was warranted, and I don't regret it at all.

To everyone who is currently standing on a bridge at the news of Welker's leaving: just go ahead and jump already. The Pats will be fine, but if you types feel like clearing out in the mean time, you won't get any objection from me.