The Patriots valued him at 2 years 8 million a year ago.
Giving him 5 years 8 million a year later is completely absurd, terrible negotiating, and way too big a commitment to a guy who takes the abuse he does every game at the age he is at.
Maybe I am just being naive here, but I can not fathom a situation where the Pats FO isn't going to cover their bets with him. I am making an assumption that they have an out lined up after the second year or so and that the way the deal is structured will be beneficial to the Pats and not Welker specifically.
We all know we don't pay our players what they are really worth in most cases and I think Welker would be mediocre anywhere else as he is a system WR (Specifically..OUR SYSTEM), but he is also TB12s security blanket and he has done a lot for us over the years(dropped a few clutch passes too). I just don't see this as a bad deal knowing the history of the Pats organization and their negotiating skills.
Now, if this is a straight up 5 year, 8 Mil per year deal at his age, and will all the hits he takes like that, not good...do any of you think our FO is that dumb though?
Have a little faith, they aren't going to screw themselves over knowing there are only 5 other good FAs out there in Greg Jennings, Mike Wallace, Dwayne Bowe, Danny Amendola, and Brian Hartline.
Hell, we may even end up with one of those WRs. Lets not forget, we also have a 100% Jake Ballard under contract this year which means more than likely, Hernandez will be playing WR or at least used in a WR role nearly 100% of the time.