hwc
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2004
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i dont care if amendola's released. hartline/someone else can match his production of 200 yards.
that unknown player will also be much cheaper
Much cheaper? The Pats take a $3.6 million dead money cap charge if they release Amendola. If they keep him with no rework, the cap hit is $5.7 million. Do you really think you can replace Amendola in the free agent market for $2.1 million? You're certainly not getting Hartline for $2.1 million. You would have to go with a rookie or a one year rental on an AARP wide receiver to "save money" by cutting Amendola.
A much better scenario is to convert some of Amendola's salary into NLTBE incentive bonuses. You could actually save cap space, keep a productive veteran receiver, and, if he has a big year, you don't mind the extra cap hit from the bonuses.
From Amendola's standpoint, a reasonable haircut from the Pats might be more attractive than getting cut in a market that has a glut of WRs.
I think there's a win/win deal to be had. A $1 million cut, with the ability for Amendola to earn it all back in NLTBE bonus would be good for the Pats.
I don't think anyone is happy that Amendola hasn't played up to his contract and had more production. The question is where do you go from here? It's not that he's a bad player or not useful (even as an Edelman backup) in our offense. It's a contract issue.