Denver Native (Carol)
03-16-2013, 05:46 PM
Forget the numbers.
The final offer that the New England Patriots made to Wes Welker and the one he accepted from the Denver Broncos might have been just $1 million per year apart. But put into context, they might as well have been made on different planets.
Welker finally had enough of the leveraging and squeezing and hardball tactics, and so, like Lawyer Milloy, Adam Vinatieri, Asante Samuel, Richard Seymour and even Logan Mankins (who eventually got paid) before him, he told the Patriots where they could stick their value assessment.
AND
The Broncos stepped in, offering Welker the chance to go from Brady to Peyton Manning and bringing what one Denver source called the "real big" recruiting presence of executive vice president of football operations John Elway to the table, and it was over quickly. "He's unreal," the source said of Elway. "Because he's genuine, and he's a guy's guy, some of the same reasons he was a great player. It's his personality, his charisma, his honesty; he's just a good dude."
It's apparent that Welker didn't feel he'd gotten the same forthrightness from New England.
http://www.nfl.com/freeagency/story/0ap1000000150667/article/wes-welkerpatriots-split-years-in-the-making-free-agency-notes
The final offer that the New England Patriots made to Wes Welker and the one he accepted from the Denver Broncos might have been just $1 million per year apart. But put into context, they might as well have been made on different planets.
Welker finally had enough of the leveraging and squeezing and hardball tactics, and so, like Lawyer Milloy, Adam Vinatieri, Asante Samuel, Richard Seymour and even Logan Mankins (who eventually got paid) before him, he told the Patriots where they could stick their value assessment.
AND
The Broncos stepped in, offering Welker the chance to go from Brady to Peyton Manning and bringing what one Denver source called the "real big" recruiting presence of executive vice president of football operations John Elway to the table, and it was over quickly. "He's unreal," the source said of Elway. "Because he's genuine, and he's a guy's guy, some of the same reasons he was a great player. It's his personality, his charisma, his honesty; he's just a good dude."
It's apparent that Welker didn't feel he'd gotten the same forthrightness from New England.
http://www.nfl.com/freeagency/story/0ap1000000150667/article/wes-welkerpatriots-split-years-in-the-making-free-agency-notes