Wes Welker: Hate to See You Go But....

So another successful, well-respected and beloved New England Patriot has moved on from the organization this week. Wesley Welker, slot receiver and franchise leader in receptions, and other records such as receptions and yardage in a single game, and longest reception as a Patriot.  This was yet another situation where the Patriots organization evaluated a beloved player in the way they've grown accustomed to:  what is this player's market value, and where does he fit in our organization?  Based on Welker's age and past injury history, the Patriots decided to not offer him a new contract after previously placing the franchise tag on him which netted him somewhere near $9.5M last season (too lazy to get exact figure).

Not that there aren't more factors that come into play, I've sort of dumbed it down to people of my intelligence level and ahemm, ahemm, Steve's...  He is after all, a hockey guy.  The Welker situation has brought on all sorts of morons and irrational fans to call into sports radio in Boston and to give their initial feelings on the subject which basically was based upon pure emotions.  These emotions were justified as Welker was an excellent slot receiver who led the league in catches for many years, was very durable with his limited injuries (aside from blowing out his knee in 2010), and the trust that the Pats' franchise QB Tom Brady had in him.  I could spew out fact after fact, and all kinds of statistics that breakdown such a player and all-around good guy (plus that hot wife!).  Pretty much  of these accomplishments that Wes had in his time in New England that would really not explain how much of an impact he had on his time with the Patriots.  We are talking about a 5 ft 9 in WR in a league that is dominated by HUGE and FAST players.  I mean shit, Big Vince Wilfork can outrun Quin and me in the 40 and then probably out-drive us on the tee (ehhhh lets not go that far).  The point is, the largest men in the NFL are fast and tough as fuck, and Welker had some of the biggest cojones in the league going over the middle and hanging in the slot catching bullets from TB12. 

But it all comes down to the NFL being a business, and this team's best interest lie in Bill Belichick, and the Kraft family.  We've seen this tactic in the past with many good-to-great Patriots:  Lawyer Milloy, Ty Law, Richard Seymour, and Deion Branch to name a few.  Many of these players were thought to be evaluated at a certain value that the Patriots set, and were not paid the max contracts.  I won't try and explain this way of doing business as the Patriots have been contenders every year since their Superbowl runs, and it's hard to argue with greatness.  It doesn't take away that sometimes, certain players leaving does hurt.

Oh, so not to get all mushy, I'll miss her more:



The former #83's now-wife.  Shit, I'll miss her.  We'll miss you too Wes, you tough sonofabitch... Probably a little more had you caught that pass in SB XLII... ohhhhh, too soon??