It is the end of an era with the New England Patriots. The team has to make several free agency decisions before the market opens up in less than a week and not all of them are easy. The team stared by not giving the franchise tag to safety Devin McCourty who can now become an unrestricted free agent. The next appears to be letting go of long-time defensive end, Vince Wilfork. What is next for the Patriots?
Wilfork tweeted the news on Thursday that the Patriots would not be picking up the option on his contract and he will be a free agent on Tuesday. There were certainly hints that this move was in the works. Wilfork, who is 33, was due a $4 million roster bonus on March 10 while being an $8.9 million salary cap hit in 2015. By releasing the veteran, the Patriots save $8.06 million in space. According to Wilfork, he is still very capable of playing football in the upcoming season while New England could easily re-sign him to a smaller contract if a return is the option.
"I'm in a good place. I have a great relationship with the Patriots organization," Wilfork wrote in a statement, via ESPN. "Please know how blessed my family and I have been to be able to play 11 years in New England for an amazing organization. New England has been and always will be my home. Can I still play football? Hell yea! Do I still love football? Hell yea!"
Wilfork is not the only player that could be a cap casualty in the coming days. The curious case of Danny Amendola continues in New England. The wide receiver had yet another quiet season, but came through with a touchdown in the Super Bowl. Is that enough to save his future with New England? NFLSpinZone.com makes the case to simply release Amendola and save the cap space. Right now, NFL.com lists the Patriots as serious contenders to sign either Andre Johnson or Hartline in roder to help out Brandon LaFell and Julian Edelman. Amendola has been expendable from the start.
The curious move for the Patriots will be whether or not to bring back Darrelle Revis. The team opted not to use their franchise tag on Devin McCourty as many assumed that was a sign Revis would be back. However, teams like the New York Jets and Giants could be putting the hard sell onto the cornerback which means New England is at risk of getting priced out.