I'll admit i was wrong - Amendola didn't work

[Brady6]

I want you all to know that even when I post an opposing opinion to what you’ve posted I do consider what you’ve all said and I look at it objectively. That said in the interest of not being disruptive to this fine board and creating additional work for Ian and the rest of his moderators who I have the highest level of respect for this is going to be my last post on the Amendola situation until either something new comes to light or roster discussions begin later in the spring.

Before I leave it off like that I want to explain my position on Amendola, which is that I think Amendola is a very good NFL player but the expectations amongst posters are not attainable for him, I think that people expected this team to catch lighting in a bottle back-to-back with Welker and Amendola (on some level they may have with Edelman) but that is really a lofty explanation. I believe Amendola is an 80-85 receptions, 800-900 yard, 3-5 touchdown player at 100% (100% for an NFL player that is). I believe he is a hardworking player who is a good locker room presence. I do not want them to cut Amendola unless his contract prevents us from doing what is best for the team, but the circumstances of this season make that a difficult scenario given that Amendola’s injury opened the door for Edelman to earn a significant contract (most likely), combined with Amendola’s Patriots contract being the last comparable contract signed by an NFL player that Edelman’s agent will use as market value (in my opinion) this offseason. It was the Perfect Storm (my hometown is Gloucester, MA – showing some love) in terms of the position it puts this team in.

I personally am all for keeping both Edelman and Amendola, and any other season I would not have the concerns over salary cap #s as I do this season but the Aaron Hernandez situation has crippled us. Let’s say for a minute we retain Edelman on a similar contract to Amendola’s we would enter the 2014 season with –

Edelman - $3.5 million (Amendola’s cap hit this year)
Amendola - $4.5 million
Hernandez - $7.5 million
Gronkowski - $5.4 million

That equates to $20.9 million of our cap committed to 2 receivers who fit best in the slot, a party boy returning from major reconstructive knee surgery and his 6th surgery in 15 months, and a murderer who will likely be on trial around week 1 of the season. That to me doesn’t set this team up well to do anything else this offseason.

My position is simple Edelman or Amendola, as I have said I don’t think the gap is that big one way or the other so I will not overact to either player being the one, but keeping both doesn’t make the most sense for this team.

I have to be honest the groin injury I am sure hindered Amendola in 2013 but I think it is exaggerated and I cannot believe that it took him from a 120/1200 WR to a 54/633 WR; that’s my opinion and we will leave at that.

Now it is time to move on for Brady6 and find a new obsession, I will save my Amendola rage for my shrink (joking). I would appreciate it if nobody took any shots at me moving forward, I am not a troll or trying to be a trouble maker if you disagree with my opinion that is fine but let’s not make things personal, I like you am a dedicated Patriots fan and simply want to see what is best happen for the team. On that note I will keep my word and say so long to the Amendola discussion. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

 

[Brady6]

When will we see you in the draft forum?

I follow the post, but I don’t watch a ton of college football so I am not that educated on it, I was actually going to start doing some research over the next few weeks and try and get involved more in discussions about how best to improve the team rather than just blasting these poor 190 lb. slot receivers all day like a bully

I think you’re a great asset to this board, and that is why I said that I think you’d be a great fit for a draft guru, your knowledge is unmatched, and everyone recognizes it, and I enjoy everything you post even the Amendola stuff resonates with me even if I oppose it. Any way I will see you in some other threads and we will talk it up then.

 

[50-yard-line]

You know I went out of my way to speak highly of you in the thread Ian opened pertaining to the site survey, I recommended you as someone who could be an excellent draft guru for this site and have a blog the way Miguel handles the cap. I did that with the thinking that you could have a conversation about a player without resorting to personal blows.

I am not trolling, I have a reasonable view on the Amendola situation built on performance, the reports on the magnitude of his injury and his career historically. You and the others are the one suggesting we give a player entering his 7th season as pro a chance to do something (100+ catches and 1000+ yards) he has never come close to in his previous 6 years in the NFL.

I asked if you knew him personally because I was hoping you'd say yes because that would at least be a reasonable explanation for what I would quite frankly consider to be an idiotic expectation.

Posters can tell me all day Amendola is going to have a better season in 2014 and finish with 80-85 catches, 800-900 yards and 3-4 touchdowns and I will like their posts but if you're going to suggest that you think he is going to come out and give this team a Welker like year of 120 catches and 1200 yards I'm going to first try and explain that through reason like he knows him or he has a friend that knows him before I just say "hey you're not that bright or educated about football because what you're suggesting has the likelihood of Manning being named People's sexiest man alive".

You know, there were a lot of people here, myself included, who were not only NOT saying what you're claiming, but were very adamant that we didn't want Amendola putting up Welker-like numbers, because if he was then the rest of the hoped-for change (having some outside the numbers game and some deeper threats) had obviously failed and Brady was once again locking in on one guy.

Welker was targeted (iirc) 174 times in 2012. That's way too much for a slot receiver, in my opinion. It equates to a dink-and-dunk game that looks great in the regular season and gets hammered in the rougher playoffs when the safeties move up and start laying people out. Also puts a ton of wear and tear on the small receiver.

I don't think DA is a superstar...he's an above-average veteran receiver without a lot of mileage on him. I don't think Manny Sanders is Calvin Johnson, either, but I'd love to see him in a Pats' uniform. I'd love to see the Pats grab a Johnson or a Fitz or a Demaryus Thomas, or AJ Green (who was also pretty invisible in some big games this year), but you just don't get guys like that on the FA market unless you break the bank. You get them by drafting and developing them, as is the case with every one of the above.

Hey, maybe BB makes a deal with BOB that somehow gets Andre Johnson here - you won't hear this Amendola-liker start complaining about it, that's for sure.

And no, I don't know any professional football players. A couple of baseball players, but no football players. I did sit with Branch's sister at a Superbowl post-game party though, right below Fergie and the Black-Eyed Peas. He had just won the SB MVP and his sister (who was pretty awesome) ran over and pulled him away from some people and dragged him back to sit with us. He was very cool.

And yet, last year, I had to admit that Branch was cooked.

 

[supafly]

He should have been given a contract that kept him in New England. There's no makeup or reward there, the Patriots clearly undervalued his contributions going forward, and while we have only one year of evidence, I think that year would say that it was a mistake.

The fact that the Broncos signed him for a relative pittance notwithstanding, if the Patriots needed to pay him $6.5m or more to get him to stay with the team they should have done so. Now he is a Bronco, and now he is playing in the Super Bowl.

I could stomach the whole thing much better if I didn't know that the numbers were so damn close.

The reports are that Welker and his agent went back to NE with Denver's offer one last time in that final hour, and the fact that we couldn't manage to throw in another million dollars to come up to 2/11 with more year one guaranteed money (vs their 2/12) tells me that there's more to this behind the scenes.

 

[Deus Irae]

...I think we all knew he had an injury history and I don't think anyone thought he would be the next Welker. In fact it's probably the anti-Amendola crowd who thought that and have had their expectations battered...

This section seems a bit off. Would you clarify it, please? There were definitely people saying that Amendola would be as good as Welker, or better.

 

[manxman2601]

This section seems a bit off. Would you clarify it, please? There were definitely people saying that Amendola would be as good as Welker, or better.

There may have been people who thought that. I should only speak for myself (mea culpa). For what it's worth, I thought he was the best possible replacement for Welker but that being as good as was rather ambitious. I certainly didn't foresee Edelman's season.