Patriots Off-Season Priorities, Part I

Just a day after the demoralizing loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the New England Patriots now need to focus on their off-season, which is poised to be quite interesting. Over the next couple of days, I will be looking at the biggest priorities the Patriots have heading into the off-season. Number one on my list is Wes Welker, the impending free-agent has wanted a new contract for the past couple off-seasons, but the business savvy Patriots have been stingy with Welker.

Patriots fans have become accustomed to popular players being brought to the end of their contracts by Bill Belichick and owner Robert Craft. Most recent, Logan Mankins held out for part of the 2010 season trying to prove a point, but his wish of a new contract was not granted. Eventually, Mankins and the Patriots worked out a new contract and was paid handsomely. Same goes for Vince Wilfork, who is one of the best nose tackles in the league, and was worked to his last year of his rookie deal before the Patriots negotiated a new deal with him. So, Welker must of known a couple years ago this day would be coming.

This past off-season, the Patriots locked up star tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez to lucrative long-term contracts, which were team friendly. While they were signing their new deals, Welker was sitting at home on a one year franchise tag. Even though Gronkowski and Hernandez are both 23-years-old and are up and coming stars, Welker has been the most consistent wide receiver in football since he joined the Patriots. He has proved to be Tom Brady's security blanket, which means a lot in this system. But, Brady has had top targets before be let go due to the Patriots and their representatives not seeing eye to eye, i.e Deion Branch.

Hernandez and Gronkowski haven't been able to stay healthy for a full 16 game slate since entering the NFL. If one of them goes down, Welker picks up their slack. Only having Hernandez and Gronkowski could prove costly as one of them is likely to get hurt, and without Welker, teams can key in on the healthy tight end making the offense predictable.

Welker needs to be re-signed, it doesn't need to be long term, I'm thinking a two-year deal in the range of 20-23 million should get it done. The question is, do the Patriots want to give that much money to a 32-year-old to be, slot wide receiver. Welker cannot be worried about signing a team friendly deal, he needs to do what's best for himself and his family at this point in his career. He will be one of the most coveted wide reliever on the market, and in a pass happy league, guys like Welker are scarce. I just have a feeling the Patriots feel like they have another Wes Welker in Julian Edelman, and he can be had at a much lesser price. Welker is going to cash in this off-season, the question is where?

I will be putting up my second priority for the Patriots this off-season in the coming days.