Wes Welker signs with Denver Broncos

[luvbrain]

He didn't restructure enough. $12 million/year is 10% of the salary cap and just $1.8 million less than Tom Brady. If they matched the $12 million per year offer, Brady and Welker would be at $25.8 million or roughly 21% of the cap.

The Broncos have Manning at $20M and Welker at $12 accounting for 25% of their cap. Good luck with that.

I think the Broncos got weaker with this deal. The saving grace is the contract is for just two years. But this sort of spending means you sacrifice depth all over the field.

Bold move. Elway is a real gambler.

I thought the deal was 12 mil for 2 years?

Regardless, after all Welker did for the Pats, if the diff is only 2 mil, the Pats are better off paying him. He is >>>>> Amendola, not to mention durable and tough. I saw Amendola pulling up on his mid route to avoid a hit. He was seen jawing off with Bradford afterward. Can't imagine seeing that from Wes and Brady. Best of luck to Wes. I think the Pats lost a great player.

 

[DaBruinz]

Thats the key I guess, Pats plan has to be; we got enough talent and players to work the middle let's use money elsewhere

The problem is that talent hasn't been able to stay healthy. Welker HAS been able to stay healthy. That's why it's surprising the Pats didn't match the offer since it really was a below market offer.

 

[flasox27]

When peoplesay that Welker was irreplaceable, I am reminded how great Troy Brown was. He did everything Welker did ande made plays in the clutch which Welker couldn't otherwise we would have another ring. Yet somehow we replaced him. Lets see who we get to replace Welker before we jump off the cliff.

 

[Brady6]

Blaming BB? WW gets a pass though?

Not many coaches would take a chance and design an offense around a 5'9 180lb. BB did this and if he hadn't Welker would of never had the success or made the money he has in the NFL. He'd of been seen as a secondary option that benefited from great outside WR's like people saw him as when Moss was here.

Then there is Brady a man who took the time to develop his game to get WW the ball to him better than anyone else could of. Befriended and defended WW for years and he now signed with the one QB who has always been compared to Brady over the years and the biggest road block standing in Brady's way for a SB in the AFC. No loyalty to help TB get back that SB his drop cost him.

The Patriots might of screwed up and I have no idea what transpired in the negotiations but I either way I see WW as a turncoat and the fact people in this forum wish him luck and success is surprising.. Brady 3-0 without WW 0-2 with him so what exactly are we grateful for. TB and the Pats were the ones that spent years making a three legged dog look like a thorough bred only to have that same 3 legged dog bite them and go home with the enemies family in the end..

Loyalty defines a man and WW has none!

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Again, for the people who missed it the last couple of times that it was brought up in this thread:

Tom Curran did not say that Brady was enraged. He said that someone who is close to Brady is enraged. This is even less credible of a statement than when everyone said he was furious about his contract status a couple of years back. There's nothing to it. Curran even clarified the statement, and seemed genuinely surprised that so many people had misread it.

Well, given the way he worded it, it seems pretty damn obvious that people would misread it.

 

[r3pnit]

Victor Cruz is the only answer

LMAO at people saying Danny or Eldeman. Eldeman is a joke compared to welker. He is not the big time potential player we need now that we don't have welker. I will seriously be pissed if we don't get welker. I am willing to give a first round for cruz

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Trying my best to be optimistic but this really has disaster all over it. Can just picture Welker having a huge year with another stud QB, and gutting our defense in the AFCC.

 

[PatsSweFan]

Is it possible Pats used tag money from last year as a reason not to pay him more this year...I.e 10m last year+ 10m for next two = 3year á 7.5m??
Sound greedy but is it a possibility ?

 

[goheels22002]

Umm, Welker's deal is 2 years for a TOTAL of $12 Million. It's not 2 years at $12M per year.

Unbelievable. If that is right, the Patriots should be ashamed that they didn't add a year at $5M guaranteed and locked him in. I was sure this deal would be better than the reported two years/$16 million he turned down in 2012.

 

[letekro]

Cut Lloyd. Sign Amendola for $4M/year and Jennings for $11M/year. Isn't that in the same ballpark as what we paid our top two receivers last year? And this duo, IMO, is significantly better.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Is it possible Pats used tag money from last year as a reason not to pay him more this year...I.e 10m last year+ 10m for next two = 3year á 7.5m??
Sound greedy but is it a possibility ?

No way to know, but it's at least a plausible interpretation.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Is there any way we can all go to Gillette and boo Amendola when he arrives?

 

[Bruins29]

The Patriots won superbowls without Wes Welker (does anyone remember 2001-2005?)

Those Teams had great defenses

Since the last SB the playoff losses have been painful.

The offenses (with Wes) in some of those playoff games have sputterd when needed.

The defenses many of those games have given up too many plays.

We need to get back to what was winning superbowls.

We need to get back to having an elite D and that takes an investment in that D.

We already have a lot invested in the middle of the field with great TE.

 

[DaBruinz]

Welker's contract is fully guaranteed.. That could have been the difference. But we'll never know 100%.

 

[stevedogc]

Cut Lloyd. Sign Amendola for $4M/year and Jennings for $11M/year. Isn't that in the same ballpark as what we paid our top two receivers last year? And this duo, IMO, is significantly better.

that would be worse. 15 mil a year for 2 WRs with issues with staying on the field and not give 6 mil to a proven Welker?

 

[BradyFTW!]

Cut Lloyd. Sign Amendola for $4M/year and Jennings for $11M/year. Isn't that in the same ballpark as what we paid our top two receivers last year? And this duo, IMO, is significantly better.

Jennings is only worth $11M per if you're getting the 2010 version, and even that's not a sure thing. Signing him for that kind of money would be a pretty major gamble.

 

[Ring 6]

At this point, I disagree with this decision. I think that the offense has evolved into one of the best ever and Welker is the center of the scheme. (Yes Brady is the key, but the routes and play design, and the way we are defended revolved around Welker).
This will change. We will not plug someone else in for Welker, we will alter the offense.
In my opinion when you have one of the best offenses ever, change for change sake is a bad move.
However, I always try to not overreact in either direction.
If we were going to maintain the same scheme and 'replace' Welker this would be an abject failure.
Given that we are going to alter the scheme, we wioll not know if or how bad a mistake this was until we see who we bring in as WRs.
The idea that the decision was based on 'cheapness' is silly. The decision was not made to save money, it was made because the people in charge felt they could get more out that money spending it elsewhere.
My instinct is that at my level of knowledge this was a poor decision, but I am smart enough to know that there are factors that infuence these decisions that I could never have enough knowledge or insight into to pretend that I am judging the decision on the same amount of information BB is.
There have been many posters on this board taking a negative view of Welker's value, and I have felt, as I stated above, he was unique in what he brings. It is clear that, at least at this stage of his career, BB sees it closer to the detractors viewpoint than mine.

 

[serifyn]

Re: Victor Cruz is the only answer

I am willing to give a first round for cruz

I don't agree with what the Patriots did today, but the Patriots didn't spend years trading down just so they could piss away a first around pick and then hand Victor Cruz a huge contract.

 

[fumbrunner]

Re: Victor Cruz is the only answer

gonna cost big dollars and a first round pick. In previous years where they had a multitude of picks, i could have seen it. Not this year.

But can you imagine a young receiver corp made up of cruz, hernandez and gronk as the centrepieces? yikes.

But yeah, a pipe dream i think.

They will try to patch the hole left by welker with amendola and i think the team is comfortable with edelman and lloyd as the outside WRs. Certainly will draft one too.

 

[slash83]

Re: Victor Cruz is the only answer

No he isn't, I am. I'm 6'2 225 and run a 5.2 forty. I can't jump pretty high but I got good hands. I can give the team bout 4-5 plays in a row where I'm going full speed but will need a breather after that. I'm will to play for 60K a year, money isn't important I'm all bout the Patriot way baby.