Market price???? Please
Harvin and his 677 yds is averaging $11.17 mill
Hartline and his 69 receptions will be averaging $6.15 mill/year
Amendola and his 666 yds is averaging $6.2 mill
And WW and his double production gets a low ball offer of $5 mill/year?????
Guess Bob Kraft felt his "Patriot for life" words were sufficient sweetener to get WW signed.
Borgie, you couldn't be more wrong on the first part of your post. You can't compare Harvin to Welker. Much different skill set. The Pats didn't set the market, the league did. Clearly the top of Wes' market was $6MM/yr for 2 years. The Pats came in a slightly less that that (but don't discount the incentives that could have pushed the deal to $16MM)
Hey, B, we all were surprised with how low the numbers came in, but they are what they are. While many here were criticizing the Pats for low balling Welker last season, we have come to find out that in actuality they were offering him an above market deal, and were doing him a huge favor in paying him the $9.3MM last season. WAY over the market.
I can't fault NE for moving on though I am surprised NE wouldn't jump at a short term/low money sure thing vs a longer term leap of faith and health(So unRed Sox like....these days). BB clearly has a more extended vision of the roster which should be applauded, I guess. He nailed the Welker signing six years ago and hopefully he hits the lottery again with DA.
Personally, I've been less and less a fan of this small ball passing offense that dominates the regular season but gets contained too often by the playoff caliber defenses. McDaniels tried to deploy WW more vertically this past season more out out of necessity (lack of any deep threat) but the deeper routes showed WW's limitations (Brady had to be perfect). If BB feels DA can be a more effective target on a more varied route tree, then how can we not see this as a positive?
I think deep down inside, we all wanted NE to construct the perfect offense this off season which included the greatest slot WR of all time on the inside and a certified #1 WR stretching the field on the outside. (Jennings was in my dream team dreams). Combine this pair with our TEs and the sky's the limit. Not to be unless BB finds a draft WR that figures it out real quick.
Next question....how long does it take NE to sign Edelperson and for how much?
....and you couldn't be more right than you are with the second part of your post (talk about schizophrenic ) BB looks at the offense like a Shark. You have to keep moving or you die. You can't keep doing the same things regardless of how successful they were in the past in the NFL. Teams catch up, its as simple as that. The Pats short range offense as defined by Wes Welker has run its course, and has to evolve.
Maybe if Gronk, Hernandez and Edelman had stayed healthy last season we would have seen more tangible evidence of that transition. But unfortunately they didn't and we were forced to fall back to what we had done in the past.
In an ideal world they would have been healthy and Welker would have wound up with 80-90 catches. The offense would have been more balanced and more effective, especially in the playoffs. I guess it came down to, we know Welker can catch 110 passes this season....but did we really want him to.
Now your guess is as good as mine as to what they do next. I'm guessing they resign Edelman and can probably get it done for just under $2MM/yr... if only for his special teams play and verisitilty. He's a good piece to have around
As for LLoyd your guess is as good as mine. Hard to see us find better at that price. 900 yds is nothing to be sneezed at for a 3rd option. My guess is that they go for a draft pick and groom him to replace Lloyd in 2014 as the primary outside threat, and hopefully he will add some speed to the size.
At any rate nice finish to a poor start.
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