In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

BINGO!!

In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

Over blown?  2 years in a row, dude!  You have an argument after missing season 1, but missing a bunch more the next season?  C'mon!  That's just ignorant!!

Well, the Herald is reporting it's all guaranteed.  Regardless, it's hardly a failure to turn down a two-year 16 million offer if you think you have a pretty good chance of equalling or exceeding that amount by accepting the franchise tag for one year and going back to the market a year later. You win some, you lose some, but Welker and his agent took a very sensible risk.  No reward comes without risk--and where there's risk you sometimes lose.  Still, even if only the first year is guranteed, Welker ends up with $15.5 million for 2012 and 2013 rather than $16 million. If Welker lost, he didn't lose much.  Plus, even if it's not guaranteed, he's got an agreement that can pay him another $6 million next year. Would he have been able to get $6 million for 2014 if he were going to market in 2014 about to turn 33?

 

Breaking down Wes Welker's contract   Posted  1 day ago    Print Email   Comments 3     By  Jeff Howe / Boston Herald   View My Profile      1   34  googleplus0  reddit0 

Wes Welker's contract numbers have officially been filed. As we reported yesterday, it's a two-year deal worth a fully guaranteed $12 million. There is also a $4 million signing bonus.

Here's the quick breakdown of the very straightforward deal.

2013:

Signing bonus: $4 million

Base salary: $2 million

2014:

Roster bonus: $3 million

Base salary: $3 million

In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

It's really a match made in heaven. You have 1 of the best regular seaon QB's of all time throwing to 1 of the best regular season receivers of all time. They will put up some big numbers in the regular season next year. Playoffs though they have both struggled.

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It was reported on Tuesday that he received 12 million guaranteed. If this isn't the case then this is shocking news indeed.

My opinion is this...if he received 12 million in guaranteed money vs. 10 million guaranteed with incentives to make say 14...I would of left too. Personally if I had given all that Welker had over the last six years and the team ended up saying...we want you, but for you to earn that extra money you are going to have to prove it with performance incentives (after I just finished performing at a high level for 6 years) I'd walk out of there fast. No question...at that point it's not even about the money anymore...now it's personal. I think that's basically what happened in all of this - he got offended - and he should have.

I like Amendola...I like Jones a little bit too....I think Sanders would really add something and heck, if Lloyd is able to stay we would have the best set of receivers since our Super Bowl years. But I like Welker and can't blame him for leaving.

Wes Welkers Agent didn't screw up folks.  The Patriots did.  They were pretty much showing Welker the door.  If they wanted to keep him, they could have and would have.  They threw out a low number to say hey, we tried to keep him.  We made an offer.  And if by chance Welker accepted then great, it would be good insurance for Amendola who they signed earlier.

If they were going to change the offense then it would make sense to let Welker go, but that isn't going to be the case since they brought in Amendola.  People keep saying Amendola is younger, well he will be 28, younger then Welker but not like he is 24.  Welker had stats piled high at 28, not the case for Amendola.  We all know the injury problems Amendola has.  If Amendola is such a good talent, why didn't the Rams want to keep him?

Danny Amendola has 7 TD's in his entire career and 1 of those td's came on a fake field goal, a play that couldn't have been any easier to score on.

Danny Amendola has the worst average yards gained per reception in NFL history for receivers over 100 receptions at 8.81  Welkers is 11.2

Welker’s career catch rate (71.18 percent) and his yards-after-catch percentage (52.19 percent) are the highest-documented rates for any wide receiver (min. 400 receptions).

Amendola is 66.89% and 49.65%.

People will look at Amendola’s stats and note that he has often been saddled with Bradford at quarterback, who rarely pushes the ball down the field. The Rams have had putrid passing offenses with a lot of poor numbers for the rest of the supporting cast.

Some feel Amendola has the speed to get deep, such as he did to start overtime in San Francisco last year. It was an 80-yard reception (thrown 37 yards in the air) to beat Carlos Rogers one-on-one, but it also did not count because of an illegal formation. That does not wipe out the skill displayed by Amendola on the play.

But overall, Amendola had just five receptions on passes thrown 21+ yards in St. Louis.

Bradford is no mad bomber, ranking dead last in percentage of passes thrown 15+ yards (12.5 percent) in his 2010 rookie season. Amendola had 85 receptions that year, but not a single one came more than 20 yards down the field.

Though, does this not sound familiar? The New England offense, especially for the slot receiver, is designed for a lot of dink-and-dunk passing. It was for Welker, and Amendola may be used on even shorter routes.

Right above Bradford as the second-least vertical passer in 2010 was Brady (14.6 percent). With a receiver not as polished or efficient as Welker, high expectations should be for a season like 90 receptions for 900 yards out of Amendola rather than the 120 catches for 1,462 yards that Welker has averaged the last two years as Brady’s No. 1 wide receiver.

Read more here... http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/content/slot-machines-danny-amendola-is-the-poor-mans-wes-welker/21832/

And tell me who screwed up in this deal.

patriots only wanted welker for the right price, he didnt agree to that price and hes gone. i think both sides are to blame in this ordeal, the patriots should have never let it get this far and he should have been locked up.

but with that being said, welker's agent DID screw up. he misread the market for welker and eventually welker had to reach out to teams, not the other way around. when a player leaves a team because he wants more money, and only gets one mil more per year, you know the agent screwed up.

welker wanted to remain a patriot, thats obvious. could he have felt disrespected by the offer? absolutely, but he knows how the pats do business. they are about winning championships, and how successful will they continue to be if they overpay for a slot receiver over and over again? the pats already got played by welker last year over that franchise tag, they werent going to let it happen again.

 

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In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

it might work for a year there, but then he might be back in the same spot he was this offseason.

In response to redsoxfan94's comment:

Maybe, maybe not.  Maybe he will have great success there. One thing is for sure, he will be playing for a team that wants him and won;t foolishly try and phase him out.

In response to TFB12's comment:

well we'll see then lol

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In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

Hahaha!  Very foolish!  Cost them a SB!  Not having Moss to spread the defense out the Jets totally shut down the Patriots.  All the Pats had was the short to mid field game going with Moss gone, Rex figured out they had no deep threat, played everything short and completely shut down everything. To this day the Pats don't have a deep threat to spread the D.  Have had the same problems ever since when in a big game against a smart team.

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sit back and watch wes welker decline along with peyton... can't wait!

In response to Godvernment's comment:

No receiver has taken as many hits as Welker has over the past 5 years, and he's taken some vicious ones at that. Not knocking Welker but at age 32 or 33 and the beating he's taken, he's likely heading into a big decline. Better move IMO to go with a younger, faster receiver who had better hands. If Welker was 27 it would be a different story.

In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

 

His agent screwed up because his agent overshot his value and Denver can actually vut him after 2013 which would mean he lost almost 4 million after it's all said and done. And, he wanted to stay here, but was misled by a dumb or greedy agent.

It won't work in Denver.   He knows it, too.

 

How did he lose $4 million Rusty?  

 

Let's be clear

If Welker had signed the 2 year 16 million offer the Pats made in 2012, he would have made 16 million for 2012 and 2013.  He then would have had to go to the market in 2014.  We don't know what he would make next year if this were the case, but given the market for him this year, it doesn't look like all that much, particularly considering he'll be turning 33 in May 2014.

What Welker did instead was play for $9.5 million last year and go to the market in 2013.  He managed to get $6 million for 2013 (fully guaranteed) and another $6 million for 2014 (which may or may not be fully guaranteed, partly guaranteed, or not guaranteed depending on which report you read).  His total for 2012 and 2014 is therefore $15.5 million (just $0.5 million less than what he would have got with the Pats had he agreed to their 2012 2-yr offer), but he at least has a decent chance (if not a guaranteed chance) of making $6 million next year.  So his total possible take is roughly $21.5 million over the three seasons from 2012-2104.

Welker and his agent took a bit of a risk passing up on the guaranteed $16 million in 2012  in order to have a chance at bigger money in 2013.  They didn't get that bigger money in the end, but they also didn't lose much and possibly even (for 2014) put Welker in a better position than he'd be in in 2014 if he was entering free agency then.  As it is, Welker is either going to get $6 million in 2014, or he'll be a free agent then, which is exactly what he would have been had he taken the Pats' deal in 2012. If he gets the $6 million, I think he's probably done well with the approach he took.  If he gets cut, he probably lost $500,000.  Still, the chance at big rewards always come with risk, and I can't criticize Welker or his agent for taking some risk even if it doesn't fully pay off.  Regardless, the most they lost is $500,000 (or probably less than that, since Welker's Bronco's contract has a few achievable incentives too) and that's not really all that signficant. 

 

 

In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

Yeah, BS.  Rusty, site a source or stop whining.

In response to Godvernment's comment:

Hey Largemouth Bass, apparently you hate WW as much as you like Che, Al Jazerra, and Hugo . Have you move to Cuba yet? Maybe you get the Che solution.

In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

Wait, if this is the case, didn't the pats really screw up?  If Welker could have been had for 1 year at 6 mill vs guaranteeing Amendola 10 mill on a 31 mill contract, don't you think the pats would have jumped at that? 

And please don't spin.  There wasn't a person on this board that thought Amendola was a better option than an affordable Welker.  Not one.  No one.  None. 

 

I can't follow all the contract ins-and-outs, but I tend to agree with the thrust of the OP -- that Welker's agent screwed this thing up and overestimted the value of Welker's stock on the open market.  You can easily imagine all the poison he was pouring in Welker's ear last year about how the Pats were disrespecting him, he could get a 4-yr deal somewhere else, etc., etc.  After all, the agents have a financial stake in this too, an incentive to be greedy.

LOL at everyone who is counting on a welker decline.  He hasn't shown any signs of decline and your bank on it happening this season?  Heck, we are signing older guys then him right now, are you saying those aren't good moves either because of their age?  Shouldn't we expect their decline too?  So why did the Pats sign them? 

Banking on Welkers decline which he hasn't shown yet compared to banking on Amendola stying healthy which he hasn't done so in his career especially the last two seasons, are you really going to take that position?  Or are you just saying that because the Patriots can do no wrong in your eyes?

In response to mthurl's comment:

from hi sbody language, my guerss is that hsi agent told him his he would get the best offer he could from the pats, only when they refused the latest offer, teh pats didnt want to get left hoolding hte bag if wleker did indeed take an offer elsewhere and signed amewndola. my read is the agent told wes they can lawyas go bakc and take the pats last ofer.

i think wesd had every intention of staying in ne. he looked visibnly upset (and bewildered to me). seems ot me, he never thoght this woudl hapen in the end. gotta feel for him.

i do wonder what bb had in mind. did he really just not know welkers mind, that he woudl evenually stay, and feared being left out so went wiht amewndola, or was he on the fense or preferred the youner and possibly more talented if less reliable (in the past) amendola. 

 

Pat's protected themselves

Amendola’s deal hinges on him staying healthy Posted by Darin Gantt on March 16, 2013, 8:13 AM EDT

AP

Former Rams wide receiver Danny Amendola got a good deal from the Patriots, just not as good as initially advertised.

According to Howard Balzer of the Sports Xchange, the deal which was reported as five years worth $31 million tops out around $28.5 million, and a significant part of that is tied to something Amendola’s rarely done — stay on the field.

Amendola did get a $6 million signing bonus, and has $4 million worth of base salary guarantees (this year’s $2 million and $2 million of next year’s scheduled $3 million base).

He also has base salaries of $4 million, $5 million and $6 million in 2015 through 2017.

The deal also includes per-game roster bonuses of $31,250 in each of the five years of the deal. If he plays all 16, he’d make an extra $500,000 per year, for a total of $2.5 million.

The only problem is, Amendola’s played 16 games exactly once in four NFL seasons, and has missed 20 games the last two years, making the full balance of the deal as originally stated hard to imagine.

In response to RidingWithTheKing's comment:

You continue to spin things.  I never said Brady wasn't good that season, but the Jets shut the Patriots down and it was because Moss and the deep threat was not there.  It cost the Patriots big time!!  It has no bearing on Brady winning the MVP or not that season.  Last I checked winning the MVP is different then winning the SB!!!  No deep threat was the reason they didn't win the SB.  Not having a deep threat cost them to even get to the SB!!  Dude, you are making excuses that don't even make sense.  Your judgement is being distorted due to your man love for the Pats in thinking they never make bad decisions.  They make plenty, it doesn't make you less of a fan to admit that!!