Amendola

Ivan said:

Ahem.....................



Brushes off shoulder

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I'm right there with you brother..

But I'm not trying to take a victory lap, or say I told you so. I'm just glad that the guy is slowly losing the stigma of being a bust. He's a good player, whether he's here or not next year, I dunno, but last night shown the guy can be trusted on. He made HUGE plays that saved our season.

I think Danny gets a bad rap because we have Edleman, if we didn't have JE god forbid I think Amendola would be very noticeable. I have always liked this guy, he is tough, he does a lot in both the passing and run game to set up yards for other players and I think that's something that's very important yet ignored. He proved his worth last night.

Brewskies said:

I must confess. Sometime in October or November I started a negative thread about Amendola. Based on his performance in the last 3 games I was too hard on him. I do think his contract needs to be restructured in the off season to reflex all the games he didn't show up or wasn't on TB target list. Maybe structured with performance bonuses.

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That approach would be the appropriate path to ensure that expected performance is in-line with cap/salary slot.

The Pats signed him to be the new WW. It didn't happen and b/c JE is the new WW, Amendola needs to resolve for himself if he thinks he can be a WW somewhere else or be satisfied with the role he has here.

Amazing what can happen when the ball finally gets thrown to you.

Amendola already has these performance bonuses in his contract.
500,000 total in 46-man active roster bonuses (LTBE)
500,000 in receptions (NLTBE)

Just wanted to say thanks to Danny for keeping his head up through some tough times this season.

Absolutely not worth the contract, we get that. But he's been a pro all year, found ways to contribute, and helped us survive last night.

Not every player will play up or down to their contract. At the end of every season, every team will find values and wastes. But that doesn't mean they can't contribute meaningful minutes during the year, and sometimes in Super Bowl runs.

I think of Bledsoe winning us the Steelers game when Brady got hurt. He was probably the most expensive backup QB in the history of football and obviously not worth his production that season. But he was on the books, he was a pro throughout his demotion, and stepped up when he got a chance. And as soon as we could, we moved on from him. Doesn't minimize what he did for us though.

I hope one day we'll look back just as fondly on Danny's contributions.

I was one of those that was disappointed with DA. But, i have to give him credit, he's a team player that worked hard. He took pride in his ST play and when mini-tron was out earned his way back as a weapon. Great job DA!

Miguel said:

Amendola's detractors, like myself, are only wrong if he plays the 2015 season on the Patriots roster at his $5.7 million cap figure. I am glad that he has finally played well but that will not change my opinion that he has been overpaid.

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I agree. He played great last night but hasn't done enough to earn that cap figure. I wouldn't be surprised if BB asks him to renegotiate his original contract. With that being said, I applaud him for not blaming anyone when he fell on hard times. He worked his way back on the field and was rewarded with a great game. Definitely a feel good story.

Well, if we're calling shots...

Maybe, dare i say it, a little Amendola. If there's one underutilized guy that might not be on the ravens radar, but is capable of making those key first down catches, it's him.

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http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...riots-chameleon-offense.1114850/#post-4053391

PATS16N0 said:

I don't think there's a single person on this forum who hasn't at one point said something bad about Amendola.

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I didn't. Just saying.

MrNathanDrake said:

What did you guys think of Flacco's "forward pass". It cost us 13 yards.

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We don't go there on these forums.

Brady6 said:

I was thinking they could restructure his deal for 3 years/$7.5M

Base salaries
2015 - $1M
2016 - $2M
2017 - $3M

Incentives
2015 - $500K
2016 - $500K
2017 - $500K

It seems like it would be a reasonable deal for both parties.

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I don't think that Amendola will sign a new contract with no bonus and a salary of $1M (plus $500K) in potential bonuses. To put it another way, I suspect that he could get more than $1M plus $500K of incentives from other teams (perhaps even playoff teams like Indy).

Everyone seems to be clear that his 2015 compensation of $4.4M of new money is more than the patriots will pay. So, essentially Amendola will be a free agent whenever the team chooses to cut him.

Personally, I think that the team might offer him at double what your numbers indicate.

Absolutely glad we have him right now. He has shown, even going back to week 1 2013, he can produce/deliver if made to. I tell you what, that catch that was reversed by the refs, that was one hell of a catch (arguably should not have been overturned). And the sideline dive for a TD was serious.
DA coming on now would be awesome! Gronk, Edelman, LaFell, DA, Vereen -- that gives 5 very legitimate receivers (then trot our Hooman for 6! )

But to rain on the parade a little, from a big view production POV, he isn't worth it. The $$$ he occupies must closely match production, otherwise we need important $$$ from other areas to cover the needed production. How nice would it be to have some extra millions to sign a solid OL or a LB who can rush the passer?
At DA's $$$ level he has to be, IMHO, providing 80+ catches in production to justify the $$$.

A tough crowd here for WW. Come on, WW had some good production in the playoffs. No need to bash a guy for his big mistakes -- well arguably his big mistake was leaving the Patriots for the Broncos. From a career perspective he went from being a name that had gravitas in the NFL/mentioned every Sunday on every NFL show/considered best slot receiver and one of the most difficult to cover -- to rapidly approaching just being 'a receiver on Denver'. Tough break for a guy on such an elite tract.

Regarding Amendola's value, with all due respect, it is and will be determined by the Patriot's Front Office. They seem to be OK with the contract.

As for Welker, his 'mistake' was a big mistake. But he was also disrespectful of the brain trust and probably disruptive. I recall he was benched for ragging on Sexy Rexy and said something about sticking it in Bill's face. I also believe he shot his way out of Foxboro. I enjoyed rooting for him as a Patriot, but have not missed him since and enjoy even more rooting against him as a Bronco.

I think Amendola would have a bigger role had Edelman not emerged as he did -- who would have called that -- and Gronk hadn't recovered as he did. As things stand, opponents have one more thing to plan for.

If Welker had caught that ball, he would still be playing here. I hope Amendola is still playing here in four years.

Miguel said:

Amendola's detractors, like myself, are only wrong if he plays the 2015 season on the Patriots roster at his $5.7 million cap figure. I am glad that he has finally played well but that will not change my opinion that he has been overpaid.

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Pretty much this. He earned a ton of that money Saturday, but I never wanted him released; there was little benefit to doing so, unless anyone wants to make the argument that keeping Thompkins was that crucial.

That's the depth we were asking for, sometimes you need your 3rd or 4th receiver to have a good game and win for you, because the primary targets will have bad days too. It was not the case yesterday, everybody played well and contributed to a historical victory, even Hooman. I don't know what happens with Wright though.

IIRC, Danny also made a important tackle, I think it was in Brady pick, or in that Ravens punt return that Ayers also got flagged, the ball kicked in the field and then someone from the Ravens tried to return and got ran over.

The first game in a Patriots uniform Amêndola had a spectacular game against the Bills, that also torn his groin. The fact that Edelman came up so big last season and kept doing this season shadowed Amêndola, I believe, had Edelman signed to another team, Amendola would replicate the Welker role perfectly.

Danny played a hell of a game. He broke tackles and ran hard. When he broke that tackle and made the first down by extending the ball past the sticks was huge. He played like a man on a mission. He proved today that he is worth the contract he got.