Looks like Waters won't be returning to the Patriots anytime soon. While I totally respect his desire to spend time with family it would have been great to add him to the team this season.

Note: This is only a report so my apologies if this isn't confirmed 100%.

Full article here: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000063820/article/report-brian-waters-turned-down-patriots-pay-raise?module=HP11_headline_stack

Bad link: here is the working url: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000063820/article/report-brian-waters-turned-down-patriots-pay-raise?module=HP11_headline_stack

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I definitely agree with you. Personally I have complete faith in the O-line...now we just need Brady to throw some better passes and not feel pressed on every play.

I wonder if Felgar will take back his not stop ranting about billionaire owners not paying players when he reads this. hours on end he implored Kraft to pay him.  He also thinks the NFL should just pay the Refs  good thing he's a talk show host and not a businessman. 

Waters is unusual for an NFL player. With him it's not all about the money. He's not coming back.

I hope he enjoys his retirement.

At this point O line is the top priority the next off season with emphasis on G/C depending who is available and where they want to most play Connolly. T more than G if Cannon transitions to G.

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Then he should announce his retirement. Being that he hasn't, I suspect he wants that trade. I wouldn't give him up cheap. He can stay retired if thats how he wants to play the game.

Reiss has stated a few times that Waters still wants to play, just closer to home in TX.  I never heard who his source is though. No way the Pats are gonna give up their rights for him so he can go to the Texans or Cowboys, unless they can work out some big time trade. 

Waters did not turn down a pay raise...the Pats resturctured his contract on a game by game pay out, so if he did not play, he wasnt paid. The story implies that Waters agreed to this set up, but it removed all financial obligations off the Pats for this year onto Waters.

Can't blame the guy if he's making decisions with his heart and not his wallet.  Good for him, bad for us, but time to move on. 

In response to stevensonAA's comment:

If the O-line is playing well, why would Brady feel pressed on every play?

I can't fault a guy for making family priority...far more people in this world should follow suit. What I can fault him for is stringing this thing along while under contract. If you want to be with family...fine...retire already, or move them up here for 4-5 months.

I just hope this team has some kind of plan ffor this OL....because all the weapons in the world don't mean jack if we are getting crushed in the trenches.

After hearing what he turned down...I would let him fry for the year. There's no way I try to accommodate this guy. None.

This is all moot and doesn't matter. If he isn't putting a uni on for the team who cares where he is or what he's doing.

This is all moot and doesn't matter. If he isn't putting a uni on for the team who cares where he is or what he's doing.

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In response to rkarp's comment:

its now documented though curran wrote it sept 7th, pats offered him in 4 mil range for the year and he didnt bite.

In response to tanbass' comment:

 

and they are, especially on the right side

4 million a year could have bought a lot of make up gifts or what ever he needed for 5 months.  He could fly his family there every week end. 

In response to bredbru's comment:

But it was a game by game pay out so if he was hurt or inactive, he didn't get paid

In response to rkarp's comment:

So the Pats were covering their behinds in case Waters decided to stay home. Sounds like we offered him 4 million if HE really wanted to play. This refutes your theory that the Pats were too cheap to pay, and that they wasted their money on Gallery or whoever when they could have got a mike wallace blah blah blahhhhhhhh.

 

You have always been a BB the GM hater, under some false pretense that we could have gone after Mario Williams or insert name here_ _ _ _ _ _for big dollars instead of a slew of players who may or may not work out. What you always choose to ignore is that it is about team building, and not how many 50 million dollar guys you can squeeze in the payroll.

 

It is exhausting explaining BB's team building philosophy to guys who have been here for years.