Breer points out that Mankins and his agent were indeed looking for a deal that was at least the same as Saints guard Jahri Evans, who signed a seven-year, $56.7 million offer with an average annual value of $8.1 million per year earlier this offseason. Evans, like Mankins, was a restricted free agent coming off his second Pro Bowl.
Breer reported via Twitter that the Patriots offered about $7 million per year on a long-term deal to Mankins, which apparently wasn't enough to get an extension done.
In a different report Mankins agent, Frank Baur, told Mike Reiss of ESPN that the main reason a deal hadn't been reached was that the Patriots' final offer was "20 percent lower than Jahri Evans' deal with the Saints." That statement goes against the amount that Breer reported Mankins was offered.
The 28-year old originally signed a rookie contract which was for five years and $6.4 million, with $4 million guaranteed. He was assigned the first and third-round tender – the richest possible option for a player – back on March 4th of this year.
The one year tender doesn't mean it's completley over as there's still time to iron out a new deal on an extension. Unfortunately for now there appears to be some serious work to do before the two sides could even have a shot at working something out.
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