By Zuri Berry, Boston.com Staff

Wes Welker, now an un-tagged soon to be full-blown unrestricted free agent, has reservations about his role with the Patriots, according to a report.

The Patriots' star receiver caught a team-high 118 passes this past season, but was upset about his season-low five targets in the opener against the Tennessee Titans, according to Yahoo! Sports, which cites a source close to Welker.

At the time, the Patriots were favoring wide receiver Julian Edelman in the offense, which led to an epic debate about Welker's role as a prominent piece of the offense and Edelman's rise on the team. The situation changed after Edelman hurt his hand in a Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. He missed three games and Welker's receptions rose significantly in the weeks ahead. But apparently the issue stuck with him.

Yahoo! reports:

That bit of tweaking stuck in Welker's craw all season. So did the notion that if tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski hadn't both gotten hurt at different times, there's a strong belief that Welker would have been limited to far fewer than the 118 receptions he finished with last season. In short, there's a little paranoia in the Welker camp these days about his role with the Pats.

Welker will become an unrestricted free agent at 4 p.m. March 12.