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As the Patriots try and keep wide receiver Julian Edelman and defensive back Aqib Talib in the fold this offseason, they're still going to need some additional financial wiggle room heading into the free agency period along with the draft in the coming months.
That means they're going to have to start getting creative with some of their existing contracts, and according to Tom Curran of CSNNE, that process may already be starting.
According to Curran, over the next four days, the Patriots will reportedly be trying to convince Wilfork to trim his $11.6 million cap hit by taking a restructured deal, which may also include asking the veteran to take a pay cut, although it's possible they could instead extend him and spread his salary out to alleviate some of the strain that way as well.
Curran points out that since signing a 5-year, $40 million contract back in March of 2010, which included an $18 million signing bonus, the veteran has already realized $31,954,860 of that deal.
According to our resident cap expert Miguel Benzan, the Patriots are currently about $15 million under the alotted $133 million salary cap.
How this is handled should be an interesting topic in the months ahead, and Curran expects the chances for "a peaceful resolution" are about 50-50. Hopefully the two sides can get something done without any feelings being hurt, as Wilfork is still an important part of the defense moving forward and despite his age (33) and the fact he's coming off an Achilles injury, it still makes sense to try and keep him here.
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