During the offseason the Pats seriously made a run at Seattle DE/DT Red Bryant, a 323# run stuffer who plays 4-3 LDE for the Seahawks but who can also play inside. He ultimately chose to re-sign with Seattle for a 5 year/$35M contract. The Pats shortly thereafter signed 30 year old 6'4" 290# UFA DE/DT Jonathan Fanene from Cincinnati to a 3 year/$9.85M contract with a $3.85M signing bonus. I believe he was their first outside FA signing of the offseason. The idea was that he would play both outside and inside, providing a penetrating DT that we haven't had since Mike Wright and being able to play LDE in both 3-4 and 4-3 schemes. He entered training camp pretty much penciled in as a starter, but missed most of the first 3 weeks of camp with knee injuries, and was cut on August 21. The team has claimed that he failed to disclose a pre-existing knee condition. $1.35M of his signing bonus has not yet been paid, and there was some media speculation and an unnamed "NFL source" at the time that Fanene was cut that the Patriots would try to recoup some of that money and/or not pay out the remainder of his signing bonus. Whether they actually petitioned the NFL, whether Fanene truly failed to disclose, or whether the Pats simply failed to do due diligence in his medical evaluation, is all subject to discussion.
I can understand why you would forget it. I wish I could.
