True, but why the rush? Your assumption seems to be that this year will be true every year and that whatever the Pats saw as talent will never consistently show on the field. That is the only way you can argue a cost savings. If he produces next year on another team, then the Pats just throw the money away and look like fools. If he is injured all of next season, then it really isn't any less cost effective to release him then and the team gave it the old college try. Saving $1 million or so is not major in the grand scheme of salary cap management.
I guess we do not even know if the Patriots still see what they saw in Amendola when they signed him. I think we have seen plenty of players come in that the Patriots saw something in when they signed and a year later, they see things differently. Lloyd, Johnson, Dowling, Price, Tate, Fells, Ballard, and others were all acquired and invested in based on something the Patriots saw, flash forward 12-24 months, and that is no longer the case.
I think it was clear that confidence in Amendola was not high at the conclusion of the 2013-14 season. He was the lead dog coming into the season, throughout training camp and preseason, he was injured in week one but upon his return he was worked into the lineup ahead of Edelman for the games leading up to the Broncos game and in the first half of the Broncos game. I firmly believe the turning point was at halftime of the Broncos game, the team moved away from Amendola and Dobson (due to the foot injury). They made Edelman the #1 slot receiver and that sparked the offense along with Thompkins at the X. As the weeks, progressed Edelman continued to impress and expended his lead over Amendola in the eyes of the coaches.
The groin injury would have improved as the season progressed but in the games Amendola played in his role in the offense decreased as the weeks went on, even with the absence of Gronkowski, Dobson, and Thompkins the team initially turned to Josh Boyce over Amendola. In the final four games he played, he was targeted 12 times for 6 receptions, that is a drastic change from the player that was targeted 14 times in week one of the season. I know you can point to the injury as cause but Amendola showed the ability to be productive in games with that injury so I cannot attribute it to the injury. I attribute it to Amendola being the type of player who can exploit certain matchup opportunities as good as any receiver in the NFL but those are only occurs a handful of times per season and in the other weeks he is not a factor.
The reason not to wait is simple, do you continue to invest into something that you do not have confidence in with the hope it gets better, or do you cut your losses and move on. My question is why spend more money on Amendola, especially if that limits your ability to retain Edelman. When I say limits your ability to retain Edelman I do not mean just in terms of salary cap space, I mean Edelman is going to be looking to sign a contract to be a starter, is he going to sign here to compete with Amendola for that position? If we assure Edelman the starting job to get him to sign, is Amendola going to be happy as a reserve? I am sure we made some type of commitment to him last offseason in his negotiations that he would have a starting job and be a key part of this offense.
On top of that let’s pretend you can make Amendola happy as a is a third or fourth receiver on this team, do you think there would be an impact in the locker room when players like Dobson, Boyce or others are playing more prominent roles but making 1/6 the salary of Amendola? These players are only human.
The 2009 season was a year I remember well, the team was the worst “team” in terms of locker room etc. in the Belichick era in my opinion. I even remember in “A Football Life” Belichick saying he could not get that team to play how he wanted it too. That team was filled with players being overpaid compared to their roles on this team, Belichick cleaned house and since then he has done everything to have younger less expensive talent in his locker room. I do not know if that would be affect by Amendola but it certainly crosses my mind. If we can all see that a player that made $765K last season after he got a check for $8M in the same calendar year outperformed Amendola then I am certain that the players also see that, and everyone wants to be paid fairly in life, no matter the profession.
And you stated in your prior post that people view the Brandon Lloyd release as cost savings. Everything I have heard and read indicates a general understanding of a bad locker room presence that was worth the dead money to lose. It had nothing to do with money. Who is saying that release had anything to do with saving money? I hadn't heard that story, so I'd love to hear who is making that claim.
Several posters have stated we had cap savings because of the release of Lloyd.
