What if the market made the Patriots realize they have it pretty good with Welker, who they know isn’t going to demand an idiotic deal, and it brought the sides closer to a contract extension that would enable Welker to retire as a Patriot? That’s where we think this is going. Call it a moment of crystallization for the Patriots in regards to Welker or whatever you want, but sometimes you need outside factors to make both sides realize what they have is special and they need to find a way to keep it going.
Welker deserves his own big haul – The Boston Globe
Here’s one positive take on the Welker contract situation from Greg Bedard. The Patriots had to know that there would be huge contracts given to wide receivers as soon as free agency hit, and the Pats inability to get a deal done with Welker beforehand would hurt their leverage. I doubt the Pats thought free agency would do anything but give Welker more ammo for a bigger deal. Now they’re in this position let’s hope Bedard is right and they’re still able to lock him up with a reasonable deal.