Well the 4:00 PM deadline came and went and the Patriots and Wes Welker could not come to an agreement. The Bears locked up runningback Matt Forte and the Ravens locked up Ray Rice giving Patriots fans hope a last minute deal is possible- but it wasn't. My initial reaction is I am not surprised. The difference between Forte and Rice vs Welker is the age factor. Both are young stud runningbacks in the prime of their careers and Welker's entering the downside of his professional career. The Patriots wanted to do a deal with Welker and the two couldn’t come to a common financial agreement. You can’t blame either side as I pointed out in the post earlier both sides have their pros and cons. Welker lost all leverage when he signed the franchise tender. If he held out it may have sparked up a fire from underneath the Patriots to get back their most talented wide receiver on the roster. I think Welker signed because he knew the Patriots weren’t going to give up as much as he wanted. Welker took the sure thing of $9.5 million which is very rich for a wide receiver and will likely work hard this season to show he is worthy of a long term contract. As a fan I would love to have Welker retire a Patriot but my gut says the Patriots will let Welker play out his contract and let him walk. The Patriots have never over-payed a wide receiver. You saw this previously with Dieon Branch and you saw this with Randy Moss. No one player is bigger than the "Patriot Way". The Patriots offense has changed with the arrivals of the tight ends. The Patriots have no problem making the tough decisions and even though fans may not be happy with the initial decisions, the Patriots usually turn out making the right move. Enjoy Wes Welker this season and hopefully the Pats and Welker can come to a more reasonable agreement following the 2012 season, but like I said- Don’t be shocked if Wes Welker isn’t a Patriot in 8 months.
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