In the NFL offseason, no player is ever a lock to return. As teams analyze last season and look for ways to improve, no player is safe from being cut or traded off to another team. Wes Welker is the next name up in the trading rumors. The veteran receiver is no longer guaranteed to be returning to the team, according to reports out of Boston as contract talks stall.
While it is hard to imagine Welker playing for anyone other than the Patriots, he does headline the class of 2013 free agents, which also consists of big names like Victor Cruz and Mike Wallace. As usual, contracts play the biggest reason in why Welker might not be returning to Boston. His overall playing ability is not in question. At the moment, the Patriots can exclusively talk with Welker until free agency officially begins on March 12, then it is anyone's game.
"I'd love him to be around. He's a great guy. Like I've said all along, it takes two sides to make a transaction. We have to manage the lawyers and the agents that they don't mess it up. I think Wes wants to be with us, and we want him here. It's just a matter of whether both sides can be intelligent," Patriots owner Robert Kraft said.
The two sides failed to reach a long-term deal last offseason, so the Patriots hit Welker with the franchise tag. Many believed it was a punishment for not agreeing to the purposed long-term deal when the Patriots cut his role with the team during the 2012 season.
The Pats could place the franchise tag on Welker again, costing the team upwards of $11.4 million, a very unfriendly cap space number. The team could easily match the price of whatever he is asking as far as a contract goes. Three players already account for 35 percent of the 2013 salary cap for the Patriots. Paying Welker $2 million more than he earned last season could really hurt the numbers.
The discussions of a long-term contract got ugly between Welker's lawyers and Kraft last season. Kraft says the two sides should be able to reach a deal this year as long as Welker's agents don't "mess things up again." Shots fired.
Welker is considered an extremely reliable slot receiver and a security blanket for quarterback Tom Brady. The team has been reportedly interested in receiver Percy Harvin who is said to be on the trading block in Minnesota after behavior issues have ruined his relationship with the team. If Welker fails to reach a deal with the Patriots, it is certain almost every other team in the league will reach out to get him.
In his smaller role with the team in 2012, Welker finished with 118 receptions for 1,354 yards and six touchdowns in the regular season.